Rough Encounter
by theHumbleGM
Summary: After an encounter with a scorpion witch, Soul and Maka realize that Soul has been cursed. Without a way back home, the pair is forced to wait to return so that Stein can figure out what's wrong. Meanwhile, something sinister is brewing in Death City, and the pair might be the only ones who can stop it. That is, if they can fix Soul and get back in time. (Completed!)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello beautiful readers! I'm excited about this one; I'm in the middle of another Soul Eater obsession phase, and now that I've finished my other fic I can finally stretch my creative muscles with my favorite meister/ weapon pair. (I said I was taking a break, and while I meant it to be longer, I've already got a couple parts done for this. Whoops.)**

**This is intended to be canonverse, a few years after the manga, but I'm going with AU since I'm still working on rereading it and don't remember what all happened. (Also, please forgive me if I bounce back and forth between the manga and anime words for things. I'm terrible at using the manga terms.) For this story, Kid has taken over his father's place as Lord Death, Spirit has agreed to take over Oceania for a while, and Soul is the resident Death Scythe, but he still primarily works with Maka for missions.**

**Also, I am a SoMa lover all the freaking way. I can see the argument for some other pairings, but I'd never write them that way. While I honestly think they would have broached a conversation about their feelings after the incidents in the Book of Eibon, for my purposes here, they haven't talked about it yet. If they had, this story would end up being 50% smut and that's not my goal here.**

**Thanks in advance for any favorites, follows, or reviews. As always, happy reading!**

**I own only the plot of this story.**

"... and I told Kid he should take a break because Liz and Patty miss going on missions with him. Not that he listened, obviously." Maka stretched her legs, careful to maintain her balance as she and Soul and flew over the rolling desert landscape.

"_Did you consider suggesting a real break, not just one where he gets to do more work?"_ Soul's tone came through drier than the desert below them and Maka almost wished he was in human form so she could smack him.

"It's different. You know as well as I do that it gets boring going too long between missions."

"_Yeah, but it's not like he's lazing around. He's busy all the time now._"

"Which is exactly why he needs a break," Maka said, throwing her hands up. "He should have come out here himself with the girls and gotten away from Death City for a day."

"_Being Shinigami is a big responsibility. He can't just drop everything and run around wherever he wants._"

Maka sighed. "Shinigami or not, he's going to work himself into an early grave if he doesn't relax every once in a while."

The giant red eye on Soul's scythe form rolled, but Maka didn't see it. "_So, how far away are we?_"

"Not too far I don't think." Maka closed her eyes and reached out with her soul perception. "It's about two more miles. Kid wasn't sure how much of the structure had been exposed, so maybe we should make the end of the trip on foot, in case anyone is around to see, not that I sense anyone yet."

"_Good idea. Just say when._" Very soon, Maka could see a shape in the distance that was noticeably different from its surroundings.

They landed behind a dune so the glow from Soul's transformation wouldn't be as noticeable. Maka took a moment to stretch out, her red plaid skirt riding up some as she reached down to her toes. She wore a white button down under her long black coat with her heavy combat boots. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail; she was still getting used to the change, but she'd noticed recently that she got less hair in her face during battle that way. It felt weird to not be in her Spartoi uniform, but they hadn't had much time to get to the plane, so changing hadn't been a priority.

Soul wore his favorite leather jacket over an orange t-shirt with dark jeans and shoes. His hair was as spiky as always pulled back in a thick black headband. He landed in a crouch as he came out of weapon form and slowly stood as he stretched out his body. "Man, I know we can fly now, but that doesn't mean we should always have to make so much of the trip on our own." His eyes briefly skimmed over his meister as she stretched, before he shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking.

"We got to take a plane over the ocean this time at least," Maka said as she caught up. "Plus, there's a rental car waiting for us for the return trip. Kid said it was important for us to get out here as soon as possible, that's the only reason we didn't drive."

"Yeah, but my back hurts after being in weapon form for so many hours," he grumbled. "Any chance I can get you to rub it when we get back?"

"I'll do yours if you do mine."

He grumbled a little, but she only caught something about it not being as difficult to ride.

"As if," she scoffed. "It's no picnic balancing on you while we fly, you know. I don't know how witches do it, but it is not easy."

Soul sighed, but didn't say anything else as they walked, occasionally twisting his torso to stretch his back. As they approached, they could clearly see the structure that had being revealed by the shifting dunes.

It was much plainer than some of the other desert structures they'd seen over the years. It was about two stories high, and skinny- only about a dozen feet wide. As they approached they could see one opening facing them at ground level and four window-like openings on the second floor. The strangest detail, though, was the fact that the building was made from some sort of gray stone, instead of the usual limestone. Maka made a cursory scan as they approached, but she couldn't sense any wavelengths near the building. As they looked inside the doorway, they found a plain, empty room with a spiral staircase in the center that led downwards. "Maka, can you sense anyone down there?" Soul whispered.

Maka closed her eyes and reached out with her soul perception again. She frowned when she encountered static. It felt like there was some sort of barrier making her perception bounce back at her, but she continued to try and break through it. Warmth on her shoulders startled her for a moment, but she realized it was only Soul's hands. When his soul reached out to hers, she searched again, and with his help she was able to punch through. It only lasted a moment before she was forced out again.

"What was that?" Soul asked. "It felt weird."

"I'm not sure, but you did help me break through. I only found one soul response down there. I can't be certain it's the witch, but it feels like a good bet."

"Then let's get going," he said as he held out his hand.

"Right." As their hands met, she watched the familiar flash as Soul transformed into his scythe form.

"_I'll shorten my blade for now so I can make it down those stairs._"

Maka nodded as the blade shrunk before she started down the steps. It only took a few minutes for them to make it to the bottom. As Maka's foot met the stone floor, torches lit up in the space around them.

"Hellooo! I'm so glad you're finally here!" A high voice sang at them from down a shadowed hallway across from them. Maka paused as she scanned the room.

"I don't see anything in here," she whispered.

"_Me either_." Maka continued to contemplate the room as the hallway suddenly lit up.

"Sorry, I forgot to turn on the other lights. Come on, I'm waiting for you!"

"_I don't like this_," Soul said.

"Me either, but we don't have any choice. We've lost the element of surprise, but we still have a job to do." With a deep breath, Maka started making her way down the hallway. It gently curved left for a while, then suddenly turned right after a hundred feet or so. As they entered the room, torches lit up all over the walls. The room was enormous, around three stories tall and over a hundred feet long. Maka remained in the doorway as she studied the room. Platforms and pillars of varying heights were scattered around the space. "What the hell is this?" Maka whispered.

"Aw, who are you?" a voice asked from the side. Maka turned towards the voice, but saw nothing.

"I'm Maka Albarn, three star scythe meister, and this Death's Last Weapon, Soul 'Eater' Evans." Maka's grip tightened as she took a step forward. "How about you quit this hide and seek nonsense and face me."

"I didn't invite you here little girl, you can leave now." The voice had moved to the other side of the room.

"Tough for you, because we were sent here to get your soul. I assume you're the scorpion witch, Orsch?"

A small whirlwind of sand started and coalesced on top of one of the pillars near the far wall. A young woman, probably around Maka's age, was revealed as the sand disappeared, wearing a pair of tan overalls over a white t-shirt. The hat she wore had two shapes sticking up on the sides that looked like pinchers and a large tail came up from behind her that hung threateningly over her head. The tan boots on her feet came up to her knee and had three protrusions coming out of the sides that looked like little legs. "You would be correct, I am the scorpion witch Orsch. I can't say I'm pleased to meet you, since I never invited you here. Where is that little Shinigami? He was supposed to be the one that answered my summons."

_What summons_, Maka wondered, but she didn't acknowledge the witch's comment out loud. "He's a little busy, being a Shinigami and all. Don't worry, though, part of you will see him soon enough."

The witch watched Maka as she hopped onto one of the pillars. "Wait a minute. Did you say Maka?" Her face lit up as she clapped her hands together once. "Oh, _you're meister Maka_, the creator of the Last Death Weapon!" She lowered her stance a little as she spread her arms. "Well, it isn't who I was hoping for, but this will do just as well."

"_You ready, Maka?_" Soul's reflection appeared on the blade, his usual smirk in place.

Maka's smirk matched his. "Always." She stood up straight, finger raised to point at the witch. "Scorpion Witch Orsch, you are accused of murdering humans and collecting their souls, a direct violation of the agreement established between the witches and Shinigami. Under the order of Shinigami, I am here to deliver your punishment. Your soul is mine!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Did anyone catch the play on words in the title? Rough, like sand? 'Cause she's a scorpion witch? Hahaahhaahaha, I'm sorry… I swear, not all my jokes are terrible. Please still favorite, follow, and review!**

**As always, happy reading.**

The witch laughed from her perch across the room. "Oh, that was adorable! Can you say it again? You sounded so serious!"

Maka planted her foot solidly before launching into the air. Soul's blade, fully extended now, glinted in the firelight.

"Careful, little one," the witch warned, "those don't look very stable. Scor scorpio, scor scorpion. Sand Tower!"

As Maka landed, the pillar under her feet crumbled into sand. She nearly lost her footing, but she swung Soul at one nearby and used his blade to stop herself from falling. Quickly, she climbed up and continued to make her way across the room.

"Well done! Now try this. Scor scorpio, scor scorpion. Sand Storm!"

A blast of sand assaulted Maka as she jumped between two platforms, carrying her swiftly into another. She grunted as hit the stone, pieces crumbled and fell to the ground with her.

"_Maka!_"

"I'm fine," she said, standing. "I'm not a fan of this jumping around nonsense."

The smirk was obvious in Soul's tone as he responded. "I'm ready when you are."

She stood as Soul retracted his blade again. As she hopped onto the handle, wings sprouted from the end and they blasted off, heading straight for the witch.

"Oooo, that's amazing!" The witch's tail coiled under her and launched her off her perch a split second before Maka landed hard where she'd been. "I heard the rumors, but who would've thought that you really had a grigori soul?! That is amazing!" Maka charged again, but once more the witch dodged with her tail.

"_She's just playing with us_," Soul said.

They did this for a while, and each time Maka missed, she became more agitated. She hated the witch's nonchalant attitude, the way she was obviously just playing with them, and she wished the damn witch _would just get serious and fight her already!_ Seeing red, she made a jump that was much longer than she'd been doing, giving the witch an opening.

"Scor scorpio-"

"_Maka!_"

"-scor scorpion. Sand Storm!"

Maka was thrown again, this time breaking through a thinner column of stone before landing on the ground. "_Maka, what's wrong? Get out of your head and back in the fight!_"

"She's pissing me off. I hate this running game she's playing."

Soul sighed, his face appearing on the blade again. "_Maka, you're smarter than this. I know you prefer head on fights, but you can't let her bother you. Take a breath and think. We can beat her."_

She laughed a little. "You're right, I know." Another blast of sand smashed into where she was standing, but she rolled out of the way. "Sorry, it won't happen again."

"_I know. Now let's show this witch what we're made of_."

"Right." She charged the witch, this time analyzing her movements before chasing her down again. Attack, wait, dodge, repeat.

Soul sprouted wings at Maka's silent demand and they flew above, circling their opponent. She needed to anticipate the landing, instead of aiming where she was. It was stupid of her to not figure it out sooner. They dodged two more sand blasts before diving at the witch. This time as she dodged, the pair turned sharply in the air to intercept her.

As the witch's feet landed, Maka swung Soul around, blade exposed again and aimed directly at the witch. A split second before she made contact, the witch's smile shifted. The tip of her scorpion tail split in two and caught Soul's blade.

Her smile turned predatory. "Scor scorpio-"

Maka landed and yanked on her weapon, but it didn't budge.

"-scor scorpion. Sand Setback!" A wind began to whip around them, and yellow lightning crackled all along Soul's blade and handle. As the light hit Maka's hand, she barely kept herself from dropping Soul as the witch's tail slammed Soul into the ground as he yelled out. The tail coiled again and flung the witch back across the room as Maka switched hands to shake her suddenly numb arm. "It was nice meeting you, Meister Maka, Death's Last Weapon." The witch waved, her former smile back in place as she hopped again, landing near the door. "I'll be seeing you!" There was a poof and the witch disappeared. Maka made a move to follow her, but the ground beneath her began to fall away, turned to sand.

"Soul, we need to fly!" As the entire room began to fall apart, slowly filling with sand, Maka tried to to use the still standing pillars to make her way to the door. "Soul!"

She caught one of the pillars with Soul's blade and pulled herself up before hopping towards another still standing platform. The eye at the top of the shaft was blank, no pupil or eyelid visible, causing Maka to worry. A few more jumps and she made it to the doorway. She started to run, continuing to call her weapon's name. The hallways filled with sand behind her, filling the space entirely. Getting up the stairs was more difficult with Soul's blade out, but Maka managed to stay ahead of the sand long enough to get out of the building before it was completely covered.

Maka stuck Soul in the sand before putting her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths. The panic and worry settled a little as she focused on her breathing. As she stood again, she scanned the area around them. She didn't sense any souls, and the barrier she'd found under them before was gone. Looking at Soul, she saw he still hadn't moved or returned to human form.

"Soul, hey, you still in there? What's going on?" When Maka reached out for his soul, she sensed something weird. Something coarse and gritty was faintly clinging to the edges of his soul. Before she could investigate further, there was a flash of light and Soul appeared on the ground in front of her on his hands and knees. "Soul!"

"Maka." He looked around, confused. "What happened? How did we get out here?"

"The witch got away," Maka spat. "The room started filling up with sand, so I had to get out. What happened to you?"

"I don't know," he said, running his hands through his hair. "I remember feeling a shock and then everything just blacked out." He tugged on his hair, as though the pain might help him remember. Something felt off, but he didn't know what it was. Looking down at himself, he saw nothing amiss, his clothes and limbs all still in one piece. Maka was kneeling near him, the skin of her face and legs scuffed from the sand attacks, but otherwise whole. _Must just be that I blacked out,_ he thought. He released his hair, fluffing it a little to try and fix it. "So she got away?"

"Yeah," Maka answered with a frown. "She didn't even try to fight us. I don't understand what she was doing."

"What happened after we landed?" he asked, sitting down and crossing his legs. He noticed that she was still kneeling, her scuffed legs folded under her in the sand. Soul pulled off his jacket and handed it to her, the warmth of the desert enough to keep him from getting cold.

Maka had opened her mouth to answer, but she closed it and raised an eyebrow at him as she looked at the jacket. "What am I supposed to do with that?"

"The skin on your legs looks bad. Sit on this so the sand doesn't dig into it." Soul gave her a bored look but shook the jacket at her impatiently. Maka smiled at him as she stood to wipe off her legs before kneeling again on his jacket.

"That's awfully sweet of you," she teased.

"Whatever." He crossed his arms, then watched as she kneeled down again. The jacket was warm and was much more comfortable on her skin than the sand had been.

She sighed. "That is a lot better. Thank you."

"Yeah yeah, now tell me what happened." After she told him, his brows furrowed even more. "She said she'd see us again? That means she's planning something. Damn it, I can't believe we couldn't take care of her."

"Whatever invitation she sent out, she obviously was hoping Kid would show up. It's also obvious she didn't want to fight us, but I don't know if playing with us was her goal from the start, or if she did it because we came instead of Kid. I wish we had more information."

Soul stood and stretched. "Well, we don't and we're not going to get any hanging around here. It's going to be a few hours before we get to that town, right? Sooner we get back, sooner we can hit the hay, so let's go." He held out his hand to help her up. She took it, then shook out his jacket before handing it to him.

He waved his hand at her. "I don't need it while I'm in weapon form. Maybe you can use it as a cushion or something while we fly."

"If you insist," she said, as she folded the material a few times. When she was done, she held out her hand and Soul took it as he transformed. After she got situated, they began to fly, her sitting with her legs hanging over one side. "I don't know if I can do this the whole time, but it is comfortable. Thank you."

"_Yeah yeah, don't get all mushy or anything. It's not cool_." She snorted as Soul took off even faster across the desert, never looking back.


	3. Chapter 3

**I know that the Soul Eater craze is basically over, but I can't help myself. They're just such a great team. Don't forget to favorite, follow, or review!**

**As always, happy reading!**

"Shit, shit, shit!" Soul practically threw himself into the driver's seat of the car.

"What's wrong?" Maka asked, a map spread out in her hands.

"This fucking car doesn't have a spare tire," Soul growled.

Maka checked her watch. "Well, most places won't be open for a few hours. By the time we can get it in, have the tire fixed and leave, I don't think we'll make the flight." She started folding up the map. "I guess we'll just have to go back inside. I know we checked out, but maybe they'll let us go back up to our room."

Soul didn't say anything, just stared out the window. Maka frowned a little as she considered her weapon. Over the years they'd been working together, she had seen him angry plenty of times, usually because of something she did. However, he was generally a pretty mellow guy, and that hadn't changed as they got older. These days, it was very rare for him to lose his cool over anything that wasn't dangerous or life threatening. Even when they argued, he rarely got mad at her.

"Soul, it's not a big deal. We just need to take a later flight. Usually you'd jump at the chance to go back to bed."

"Yeah, whatever." Soul grabbed the keys from the ignition, reached into the backseat for his bag and left the vehicle. "I'll go see if I can get our keycards back." As he trudged back towards the hotel, Maka left the vehicle more slowly. They'd made it to the edge of the desert just in time to get their car before the rental placed closed the previous night. The town hadn't had a hotel, so they'd had to drive another half an hour to the next one, where Kid had a room waiting for them. That had only been four hours earlier, so they hadn't gotten much sleep.

Maka grabbed her bag from the back and locked the car. They were both pretty tired, so she decided to not worry about Soul for the time being. As she entered the lobby again, she saw him waiting for her, two keycards in hand. "The guy said the place down the street opens at eight, so we'll have to wait until then."

"Alright. If you want, I can set an alarm and get up to make the call."

"Up to you," he said, hitting the button on the elevator.

Maka was a little annoyed with Soul's behavior, but she ignored it. They both just needed more sleep. After they got to the right level and back to their room, Soul dropped his bag on a chair and plopped onto the still unmade bed. Maka rolled her eyes and went into the bathroom to call Kid again.

Moments later, Kid appeared. "Good morning, Maka. What can I do for you?" He was sitting in his study at the Gallows, and he appeared to be alone.

"Sorry to bother you, Kid, but we're going to be late getting back."

"Oh?" Kid turned fully in his chair, concern written on his face. "What's wrong?"

"One of the tires on our rental car popped on the drive over here and it doesn't have a spare. We have to wait for somewhere to open so we can get it fixed before we can leave. I don't know yet when it will be ready, so you might want to wait to book us a new flight."

"I will see if I can get your tickets refunded then." He paused as he studied her. "Is something else wrong? Are you and Soul okay?"

"Yeah, yeah we're fine. Well, I'm fine at any rate." Maka fiddled with her hair. "Soul's just been acting weird since we woke up. He's grumpier than he usually is, even for this hour."

"Is he feeling any ill effects from your fight with the witch?"

"Not that he's mentioned…"

Kid watched as Maka closed her eyes as she concentrated. He wished he could study Soul's soul on his own, but the distance was too great for him to reach out to it. After a few moments, Maka opened her eyes, and her expression was worried.

"Whatever that grainy feeling is that I sensed after the fight, it's growing. Not very fast, but it's definitely there."

Kid drummed his fingers on his knee. "I'll call Stein in a couple hours and see what he thinks. Are you okay? Do you have the same problem Soul is having?"

"No, my soul is fine." She was leaning against the counter, her knuckles white from how hard she was clenching the edge of the sink. "I'm just really worried about him, Kid. Every time something bad happens, it's always Soul that comes out worse for wear."

"You know that's not true, Maka," he scolded. "You and Soul have both taken your share of scrapes in the past, and you know that you are stronger because of it. You will get through whatever this is, too." Kid cocked his head when she finally looked up. "Are you sure you're alright? You haven't had one of these self doubting spells in a long time."

She laughed quietly. "Maybe we both need a good nap. You're right, I know, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. There's nothing wrong with worrying about your partner." His face fell. "Speaking of, if I don't go to bed soon, Liz is going to be rather upset with me in the morning if she finds out I stayed up all night again."

Maka stood up, smiling. "Well then, I'll let you go. I'll let you know once we figure out when the car will be ready so you can get us a different flight."

"Sounds good. Sleep well, Maka."

"You too, Kid."

When Maka exited the bathroom again, she found that Soul hadn't moved an inch since he landed on the bed. She smiled as she went over to him to cover him with the blanket. She soon realized he'd landed directly on the middle of the blanket and he was too heavy for her to easily pull it out from under him. "Guess there's no choice," she mumbled, grabbing the blanket from the other bed. After she covered him, she took off her jacket and pants, leaving her in her long t-shirt and boyshorts. She hated sleeping in pants, and she was too lazy to dig out her shorts. After setting her alarm, she laid down and fell asleep.

Her alarm went off two hours later, startling her. After she turned it off, she tried to stretch out, but found that Soul had moved in his sleep to wrap himself around her.

Maka sighed as she worked on extracting herself from his hold. Whether he liked to admit it or not, Soul was a closet cuddler. He liked having her right next to him while they watched movies, liked holding hands while they walked together, and occasionally, after a bad dream or when their hotel room only had one bed, he liked to cuddle while they slept. It had gotten worse in the last couple years, and while she usually didn't mind, since it was good for their resonance, it was hard as hell to unwrap him from her while he was asleep. Just as she managed to get free, his arm came around her and pulled her back towards him again.

"Soul," she whispered, tugging on his arm. "Let go, I have to get up."

"No," he grumbled into his pillow, his arm constricting even more.

"Soul, I have to make the call for the car."

"No."

"Soul."

"No." This time when he said it, he threw his leg over hers to pull her closer. Maka felt her face flush a little, but she ignored it.

"Soul, please let me go?"

"No. Warm." He wrapped around her tighter, but then suddenly froze. His hand slowly moved down her side to her thigh.

"Soul, what the hell?" She moved to smack him as he jerked away.

"Why are you not wearing pants?!" His voice was rough from sleep and higher than usual.

"You know I hate wearing pants to bed."

"Yeah, but you're usually wearing shorts at least." Suddenly, blood started dripping out of his nose. "Damn it." He pinched his nose and went to the bathroom.

Maka stared after him as he left, wide eyed. He hadn't had a nosebleed in a very long time. After living with Blair long enough, he had eventually gotten used to her shenanigans and his nose had become blood free. Not that he couldn't get nosebleeds from other things, but she'd never known him to get one for any other reason.

Oh no, what if it was because of the witch? That tiny little part of her that wanted to be with Soul, that she vehemently denied existed, had tried to distract her from the fact that something could be really wrong. She sought out his soul again. It still had that grainy coating, much to Maka's dismay.

Shaking her head, she stood up and pulled her pants back on as she grabbed her phone. The sooner they got the car fixed, the sooner she could get Soul to Professor Stein.

Soul didn't immediately leave the bathroom after his nosebleed stopped. Looking at himself in the mirror, he wondered what could be wrong with him. It wasn't the first time he'd woke up in the same bed as Maka, so he didn't know why he'd reacted as he had. Sure, he found his meister attractive, but he had that shit on lockdown. He had a good thing going with Maka, he wasn't about to let anything ruin it, least of all him. So why had his nosebleeds returned? He'd gotten over Blair's antics a while ago, and he kept his feelings for Maka in check at all times, so why had his nose gone preteen on him? As he studied himself in the mirror, he could have sworn there was something off about the way he looked. Had he lost weight? He looked skinnier for some reason, and if he didn't know better, he'd think his hair had gotten shorter.

Scoffing at himself, he finally opened the door and went back into the their room. Maka was standing near the window, her phone in her hand. She jumped when he spoke. "So, what did they say?"

Maka gave him a sheepish look. "I'm afraid to tell you."

He scowled. "Why?"

"They said they don't actually have a model of tire that will fit on our car, because they don't see newer models like that around here often, plus ours has some sort of special tire or something. They won't get another shipment for three days, so we'll have to wait."

"What about if we just get a different rental car?"

"They don't have any."

"What about the place we got this car from?"

"Also don't have any, but," she added, her voice consoling, "they're going to cover the cost of the new tire."

Soul growled, his teeth fully exposed. "Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Happy reading everyone!**

"So uncool, Maka." Soul buried his hands in his jacket and slouched as he followed her, a habit he thought he had grown out of.

"It's not like there's much else to do in a small town like this." She was running her finger along the books on the shelf as she read the titles.

"Yeah, but visiting the _library?_ You can't even check out books from here!"

"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't look."

He groaned out loud and then began walking away.

"Where are you going?" she asked, turning to follow him.

"This is boring, I'm gonna go walk around town. I'm pretty sure I saw a diner down the road from here I might stop at."

"Soul, it's barely 2 and you've already eaten breakfast _and_ lunch in the last four hours. You can't just eat your way through the next few days."

"Why not?" he asked as he walked out the door. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

Maka smiled at the librarian as she followed her partner out. "You know why, we'd run out of money after the first day." She scowled at her partner. "Since when are you so hungry all the time? I thought that stopped after you quit growing."

He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe it's a Death Scythe thing."

"I don't think so," she said, studying him. He looked the same, but also not. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was bothering her, but she was certain it had to do with that stupid witch. She grabbed his hand and started leading him in the opposite direction.

"Hey! What are you doing?" He made a token effort to pull away, but followed her as she led him away.

"I don't think you're hungry so much as bored. Let's go do some training."

"I'd rather go back to the room and watch TV," he grumbled.

"You've already searched the three channels we have and you didn't find anything. What makes you think they'll be any better now?"

"You know they don't play the same thing all day, right?"

She rolled her eyes at him over her shoulder. "Two of them are weather channels."

Soul huffed. "Only two of them."

"The last was a children's channel and you don't speak the language." She stopped pulling him and walked next to him instead. "Stop whining, you know this will be more interesting than staring at the wall all day."

"Fine," he said as they walked together. Honestly, he didn't mind, but for some reason, he found himself arguing about it anyway. He also felt the urge to take his hand back from her, which confused him to no end. It was usually him that initiated hand holding when they walked around, so he didn't know why he suddenly wanted to pull away.

He itched his chest, hating the dry feeling under his skin that had started that morning. Whatever that witch had done to him was messing with him, and he really wished they could just get back to the academy so Stein could take a look at him and fix whatever was wrong. Maka had tried to use her soul wavelength to clear away whatever it was that had stuck to his soul, but it hadn't worked like it did with the black blood. He felt like an alien in own skin and he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to keep that from Maka if they were stuck here with nothing to do for three whole days. Some time later they made it to a fairly dense forest and were making their way through it.

"Maka, what are the chances we'll find a clearing out here that we can practice in."

She smiled, a glint in her eye. "Slim, but that isn't my plan."

He eyebrows furrowed as he followed her. "So what _is_ your plan, then?"

The made it to a fairly flat area that wasn't as thick when Maka stopped and held her hand out. Soul looked around, not seeing a big enough area to work in, but he transformed anyway. "_Do you want me to lose the blade?_"

"No, I'm going to need it." She spun in a circle slowly, then grinned as she swung his blade at the nearest tree.

Maka swung back and forth, cutting the tree into smaller pieces as it fell, dodging the branches and logs as they dropped and bounced off the ground. She continued this for a few minutes, a bright smile on her face as she dance around, until she had a small clearing completely devoid of obstacles. She was heaving more than she thought she should be as she held Soul out so he could transform back. As he stood next to her, he surveyed the area around them. "You feel better?"

"Yep." She turned her smile his way. "Now help me move this wood."

"What?!" He looked around. "Maka, you chopped down _a lot_ of trees."

"I made a space for us to practice since we'll be here for a few days. If we leave the logs strewn about, I might twist my ankle or hurt myself." She tugged on his arm. "Come on, you need the exercise, too. This isn't that hard."

He groaned loudly before he finally stood and started to help. It took them a while, but eventually they had the wood cleared off into several small piles and Soul transformed again so they could practice.

Not even fifteen minutes later, Maka paused, resting Soul on the ground. "Why am I so tired? We've barely started."

"_Don't look at me, I haven't done anything different._"

_Was it that mess the witch left on Soul's soul?_ Maka wondered. "You feel different somehow. Let's try a soul resonance." Their souls collided and amplified, causing sparks around Soul's blade. They spent a couple minutes in resonance, practicing all their moves before Maka broke the connection, breathing hard. "Damn it. Whatever's going on with your soul is grating. I don't think we do much of this until we fix it."

"_Don't push yourself. There's no need for you to hurt yourself training with me right now._" The eye of his scythe watched her as she breathed.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just annoyed." She released his handle as he started to glow and then transformed back. "I was thinking about suggesting we fly back, but now I'm thinking that'd be a bad idea until you're back to normal."

"We'll just have to wait, no matter how boring it is. Come on," he said, hand outstretched. Maka grumbled, but took it as they headed back into town.

* * *

"Alright, there's definitely something wrong."

Soul opened a bleary eye in her direction. "No shit, Sherlock. Can you worry about it a little more quietly?"

"Soul, you've basically only slept and eaten all day."

He grunted, but didn't say anything as he snuggled deeper into the pillows and blankets. Maka sat on the bed, causing it to dip and make Soul roll.

"Soul, don't ignore me."

"Do you mind?" He raised his face to glare at her with one red eye. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Which you've been doing for the last three hours."

"So?" He buried his face again.

"Soul, it's almost six."

"So?"

"It's time for supper."

"Just bring me something from wherever you go."

"Soul, you need to get up and move around." Maka tried to push down the worry growing inside her as she moved the blanket away to study his face. Whatever was wrong with him was progressing faster than she anticipated. It was going to be a few more days before they could get the car fixed and get back home. Between now and then, she had to try and keep an eye on Soul and report back to Stein with any changes. She'd already contacted Kid once since Soul had laid down; she hated how helpless she felt.

When they'd gotten back from the clearing in the woods, she'd let Soul go eat again. After returning to the hotel, he'd laid down and refused to get up for any reason.

On the one hand, she wanted to go eat, but on the other, she didn't want to leave Soul alone. She activated her soul perception to look at his soul once more. It had been slowly dimming as the sandy covering continued to grow and smother it. She wanted to reach out to Soul, to mingle their souls again and reassure the both of them, but she couldn't. Maka had already done it a few times today and her soul hurt from the contact. That was more than enough reason for Maka to want to kill that witch.

"Soul, please-"

"Maka, just go away. I get it, you're worried, but all I want right now is to sleep." He closed the eye she had exposed and turned his face back into the pillow.

She sighed, but gave in.

* * *

Maka returned an hour later to find that Soul hadn't moved from where she left him. The only part of him that was exposed was the tufts of white hair on the pillow. She set down the bag of food she'd brought back so she could take off her gloves and jacket. "Soul? I'm back."

He didn't even budge as she moved to sit next to him. She ran her hands through his hair and frowned. His hair felt longer than it had that morning. "Soul?" She nudged his shoulder, eventually rolling him over.

He groaned and covered his face with an arm. "What?"

"I brought you food. Are you ready to eat now?"

Soul stretched, causing several cracks and pops in his joints, before he sat up. "I suppose." He yawned, all of his teeth exposed as his mouth opened wide. Maka studied his teeth for a moment as he yawned, as always amazed by how sharp they were. She rose from the bed and went to grab his food.

Maka sat in the other bed as he pulled out his burger and started to eat. She watched him as he ate, eyes still half closed from sleep. Now that he was sitting, his hair definitely looked longer than it had earlier. Was that a side effect of the spell? He looked exhausted, his eyes drooping the same as they usually did but they were a little bloodshot, making the red of his irises brighter. His hands were still long and graceful, the skin tan and smooth, marred here and there by small scars from their fights. Her eyes traced up his arms, over his shirt, up his neck to his face.

She blinked, then blinked again. Maka slowly leaned forward, off the bed onto her knees. Soul finally looked up as she raised a hand towards his face. He leaned back a little as he swallowed. "Uh, Maka? What are you doing?"

"Your scar is gone," she murmured, touching the skin of his jaw.

"Huh?"

"Remember that kishin we fought in the sewers a few months ago? You half transformed at one point and got cut, here." She ran her finger along his jaw. Soul could see concern and fear mixed in the dark green of her eyes. "The scar is gone."


	5. Chapter 5

**Happy Valentine's Day everyone!**

**As always, happy reading.**

"Tell me again what happened," Stein said. He was standing in front of the mirror in the Death Room as Kid worked on some papers behind him.

Maka went over the fight once more, relaying every single detail she could think of. Stein listening patiently, his thoughtful expression never changing. "And you said you've noticed some physical changes, as well as temperament and changes to his soul?"

"Yes, sir." Maka had pulled a stool into the bathroom so she could be more comfortable as she talked to Stein. Soul had fallen back asleep as soon as he'd finished eating. Outwardly, he'd acted as though the loss of the scar and his hair change didn't bother him, but she could tell he was starting to worry.

"His hair has been changing length and I'm fairly certain that his muscle mass has been decreasing as well, not to mention the loss of the scar. I can't be sure if he's lost any of the other ones, since that one and the ones on his chest are the most noticeable and those are still there." She firmly pushed back the memories from when Crona and Giriko had cut through his chest. Maka would not become emotional right now. She refused.

"He's been much more tired and he's eating a lot. It's like when he went through that growth spurt a little over a year ago. There were a couple weeks I couldn't get him to do anything besides eat and sleep. He missed even more class than usual because he couldn't stay awake long enough to get dressed."

"Hmm." Stein crossed his arms. "I remember. He's old enough now that I highly doubt that's happening again. Can you describe what his soul looks like right now?"

She opened up her perception again, seeking the one still fast asleep behind her. "It looks basically the same, but it's like there's a layer of sand around it that's growing. It feels dry and rough." Maka reached out to touch his soul with her own, grimacing as she did. "When I reach out to touch it, my soul feels like it's being scratched up by the sand. It hurts, which I didn't even know was possible.

"Not to mention, when we went out to practice earlier today, I got tired after swinging him around for just a few minutes. He wasn't too hot or heavy, like what has happened in the past, the energy just seemed to get sucked out of me the longer I used him."

"That's very strange indeed. It sounds like your souls are still aligned, there's just some gunk in the works that's making the contact more difficult. I'll see what I can find on this end. For the time being, keep an eye on Soul and if things start getting bad, let Kid know right away so he can contact me. It doesn't sound life threatening, but if it gets worse, I may have to come out your way."

"I'll keep an eye on him, sir, I promise."

He smiled. "Stay safe, Maka." The mirror blinked and she was looking at the bathroom again. She studied herself for a while in the mirror. Nothing looked different to her. Her skin and scars were right where they should be, her hair was the same, her eyes hadn't changed, and her clothes all fit like they should. Since she'd felt the shocks secondhand, the magic must not have affected her, for which she was grateful. One of them needed to be functional and it was clearly not going to be her weapon. She brushed her teeth and got ready for bed, realizing too late that she hadn't gotten Soul to roll of his blanket yet. She sighed, but got ready for bed and went to lay down next to him.

Several minutes later, just as she was falling asleep, she felt the bed shift as Soul moved over and wrapped himself around her. One arm slid under her pillow while the other wrapped tightly around her middle. Whatever the physical changes, she was glad that deep down, he was still her Soul. She settled more comfortably against him and then relaxed, allowing his soft snores to lull her to sleep.

**Fmiomoioinpowernwv**

Maka was annoyed and worried and near violent by the next afternoon. She paced their small room swiftly, movements jerky as she pivoted back and forth between the door and window. Soul hadn't moved an inch since that morning when she'd pulled herself from his embrace.

She had gone to breakfast and lunch alone, visited the library just to make sure there was nothing helpful there (there wasn't), and was trying to convince herself that she didn't need to call Kid for the third time that day to tell him that nothing had changed, _still_. Soul hadn't been out of bed all day, not even to use the bathroom. That wasn't right. That wasn't Soul. His insomnia was something she'd grown to count on over the years. He woke up multiple times during the night, and the fact that he hadn't been awake for almost twenty hours worried her to no end.

Maka made her way over to the bed to check again if he was breathing. She heard the soft snores coming from the mound and could see the rise and fall of the blankets, but it wasn't enough for her. Kneeling near his head, she started running her hands through his hair again. It was shorter again today, but just as thick and unruly. He was starting to smell a little, she noticed, since he hadn't showered since they got back from fighting the witch.

She gradually put more pressure behind the petting until he finally stirred. The curtains were cracked, but otherwise the room was fairly dark. He turned his head, exposing one bleary red eye at her. "Hmm?"

"How are you feeling?" she asked, forcing down her negative emotions. She focused on her weapon as he continued to stay cozily wrapped up in the bankets. He looked rather cute without his usual smirk and aloof expression. He had lines from the pillow crisscrossing his cheek, and while his eyes were usually a little droopy, the way they drooped was different when he was just waking up. He looked younger, almost vulnerable, and she hated it.

"I'm tired and hungry," he said, his voice breaking because of his dry throat. He frowned as he swallowed, and Maka held out the glass of water she'd set on the bedside table for him. He drained it, smacking his lips after, and thanked her.

"I know you don't want to, but you need to get up. Do you think you can manage to get dressed and come with me to get something to eat?"

"Mmm, maybe." He snuggled back into the pillows, but kept his eye open. "What time is it?"

"Almost four."

That caused him to frown. "Wasn't it six when you woke me up for that burger?" He glanced around, seeing the sunlight around him.

"Yeah, but that was yesterday."

"_What?!_" he yelled. He bolted up in bed. "What do you mean that was yesterday? As in, almost 24 hours ago?"

"Yeah. You've been impossible to wake up. I've kind of been freaking out."

Soul looked down at his meister, noticing the worry lines that were forming near her mouth and eyes. Her hands were fidgeting with themselves and her clothes were rumpled and not tucked in. He sighed, running his hands through his hair. It felt oily and gross. "I'm sorry. I don't like making you worry."

"It's not like it's your fault," she said.

He grunted, feeling the drowsiness beginning to pull on him again once the adrenaline left his system. "How about I go shower and then we can go get some dinner? I feel like I could eat a team of horses."

"I think the phrase is 'eat a horse'."

"I know." The look he gave her made her laugh, and she felt the tension slowly leave her body. Maka could tell that he was forcing himself to be awake and joke with her. She appreciated the effort because it meant that Soul wasn't suffering too much, even if the magic still had a hold on him. After she stood and got out of the way, Soul got out of the bed and stretched. When he finished stretching again, Maka was staring at him with a slack jaw and wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She stared at the top of his head for a while, then gave him a look up and down, before returning to stare at his head. He ran his hands through his hair, feeling nothing. "Maka, what the hell are you staring at?"

"You're short," she whispered.

He blinked as he realized he was almost eye level with Maka. The last growth spurt he'd gone through had caused him to tower over Maka, but now he was barely taller than she was. Soul went into the bathroom to look at himself and was not happy about what he saw. He was definitely shorter and his muscles were smaller, stringier. His face was softer, rounder, as though his baby fat had never gone away. The scars on his chest were still there, but they looked more noticeable, and he felt like he was missing some of the smaller ones.

"Maka, what the hell is going on?" Soul turned towards the door as Maka followed him in and looked him up and down again.

"I don't know," she said, her worry back in full force.

Soul held out an arm and it transformed just as he wanted it to, causing him to let out the breath he'd been holding. Whatever was going on, he could still transform, and that was his biggest concern at the moment. So long as he could transform and protect Maka, they could figure the rest out.

"Well this is shitty. Growing was a pain in the ass, and now I've shrunk again."

Maka's eyes widened. "Soul, I think that's it."

"What's it?"

"Whatever magic that witch put on you, I think it's making you age in reverse. That's why you've shrunk and your scar disappeared."

"That's the lamest thing I've ever hear. Why would she do that to me?"

Dread filled Maka's gut as she swallowed and her body started to shake as she contemplated the possibilities. This was bad. They were already having trouble working together, if he regressed far enough…

Soul saw her face pale as she suddenly reached for the mirror. "We need to talk to Stein."

"Why, what's wrong? What are you thinking about right now?"

She finished writing the numbers onto the glass before turning his way. "If you age backwards far enough, you might not be able to transform anymore."


	6. Chapter 6

**Happy Sunday, and happy reading.**

Maka let out a deep breath as she entered their room, a big smile on her face. It was the evening of day three in this little town and they were finally leaving. The tires had come in and they were ready to be on their way. "Soul, it's time to get packed! We're going home."

Soul was awake and sitting on his bed with his back to her. She paused as the door shut behind her but he didn't move. "Soul?"

"I think you're right, Maka."

"Right about what?" she asked as she moved to stand in front of him. He was bare chested, and she was certain now, looking at his musculature, that the magic was affecting his body. That wasn't what held her attention, though. When they'd been in the Book of Eibon, Soul had acquired another scar on his chest from where Giriko had cut him with his saw leg. It hadn't been as deep as the one from Crona, but it had left a large scar.

It was missing.

"Okay." Maka drew out the word as she nodded. "Well, maybe this can help Stein. Do you know when it disappeared?"

"Some time this morning." He ran his fingers along his chest where the scar should be. "It was there when I showered last night and this morning when I woke up."

"Alright. Well, I'm going to go check in with Kid really quick and then we can leave, okay? You just gotta pack your bag. The car is waiting out front." He was still running his fingers up and down his chest. "Soul?"

He jerked and his eyes lifted up to hers. "Yeah, sorry. I'll get packed so we can leave." He yanked on a t-shirt and then started throwing his things into his bag while Maka went to the bathroom.

Kid answered quickly. "Maka, you'll want to leave soon. Your tickets are purchased and waiting."

"We are in a minute- Soul's just finishing his packing. Can you do me a favor and let Stein know that the scar from our fight with Giriko in the Book of Eibon disappeared this morning?"

Kid sighed. "So it's true then."

"Yes, but now that we know that, we can use it to figure out a timeline." Kid noticed a glint in Maka's eyes as she leaned forward. "We don't have dates or anything for Soul's hair cuts or growth spurts, but we do know when he got the two scars he's lost. This way we can keep an eye on how quickly he's regressing."

"That's a great idea, Maka," Kid said as he folded his arms and rubbed his chin with his fingers. "Stein will want to hear about this right away. I may have to have Marie sub for his class so that he can get back to his research. Remember what I said, you need to leave soon if you're going to make it time. I'll see you when you get back. Maka," he said, his expression serious, "and bring him home safe."

"I will," she said with a smile. "We'll see you soon Kid."

* * *

Stein flipped through the papers on his clipboard as he sat paced at the end of Soul's bed, making him nervous. He'd been doing it for almost five minutes now, ever since he got to the dispensary. Nygus had taken fluids, checked his measurements, taken his temperature, and collected any and all information she deemed relevant, finishing just before Stein entered.

"So Professor, any ideas?" Maka was sitting on a chair next to him, her free hand fiddling nervously with the blanket on the bed under him. He'd barely convinced her to sit down before Stein had entered, which had caused her to jump back up until he grabbed her hand and forced back into the seat. Her pacing made him even more nervous that Stein's, so he'd kept his grip on her hand to keep her still.

"This is so uncool," he grumbled.

"Soul, you know as well as I do-"

"Maka, it's a Saturday." She stared him, blinked, and stared some more. "It's so uncool to be here on a Saturday."

Maka stared at him for a long moment, trying to rein in her anger, before she realized he was smiling. He was just joking to try and calm her down. She smacked his shoulder, but she did relax a little as she shared a smile with him. "Well, I'm sorry, but this is for your own good."

"Huh."

Maka instantly tensed as Stein stopped pacing. "What is it, Professor?"

"All of Soul's tests are completely normal. Other than the regression, there's nothing else wrong. I suppose I should have realized that would be the case, but I honestly thought there would be something else." Stein raised his head to look at Soul, staring near his chest. Maka opened up her perception again to look at Soul's soul as well. About half of his soul was covered in that strange coating now.

"Now that I've seen it, maybe I can do some actual research-"

Maka stood, knocking over the chair, startling both men. Soul leaned forward when he saw the worry on her face, squeezing the hand he still held. "Maka? What's wrong?"

"Professor," she whispered, "look at Nygus."

Stein turned around to look at the curtains that were pulled around Soul's bed. He turned back with a frown, but Soul saw his eyes widen as he quickly turned again. "It's spreading." Stein looked at Maka to study her for a moment. "Your soul is fine, though. That means-"

"It's targeting weapons," Maka finished. "We're lucky it's a Saturday."

"Yes we are." Stein quickly left he pair to go to Nygus.

Within ten minutes, the entire school was emptied, Nygus and Soul had been restricted to the dispensary and Kid had arrived. He was currently standing at the end of Soul's bed with his hands folded behind his back as he studied his friend. "I've sent word to the witches asking if they would be willing to help us fix this, but I haven't heard anything back yet. I'm beginning to wonder if they knew the witch Orsch had this ability and had just decided not to warn me."

"I'm just glad that you didn't go," Soul said. His friends gave him a strange look. He rolled his eyes before he elaborated. "She said that she sent the _invitation_ to you, whatever that means, and if she had done this to Liz and Patty, things would be much different now."

"I would rather it hadn't happened to anyone," Kid said, "but you are right. It could have been much worse. I've reached out to Spartoi, and let them know what's going on-"

"All of them?" Maka asked.

"Yes. I figured they'd want to know-"

"Oh no," Maka and Soul said in unison, looking at each other.

Kid raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

The answer came in the form of a loud shout in the hallway. "SOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUL!"

Kid's expression soured. "I _told him_-"

"It's Black*Star," Soul said.

"You really should have known better," Maka added.

The door to the hallway exploded inwards, followed by Black*Star as he ran into the room and searched for Soul.

"You idiot," Soul yelled as Black*Star came over to stand next to Kid.

"Dude, look at you! You're a little kid again! Don't worry, my presence is all you need to get fixed right up! I'll have you back to normal in no time!"

The three friends all spoke at once.

"You idiot-" Soul groaned again.

Maka glared. "You can't be serious-"

"What did I tell you-" Kid growled with clenched fists.

"Black*Star."

The voice behind their blue haired friend came from Stein, who had returned to the room, and caused the ninja to freeze. "Yes'sir?"

"I could be wrong, but I do believe that I heard Kid mention that he told all of Spartoi to stay away from the school. Isn't that correct?"

The professor's aura was more menacing than normal, causing the boy to lose his usual spunk. "Uh, well, yeah, but he said the problem was with Soul, and weapons, and I left Tsu behind, so I thought, you know, he's one of my best minions, and uh-" Stein grabbed Black*Star by the scruff, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Well, there's nothing for it now. You can't leave until you've been properly cleaned, to make sure you don't carry it with you. Why don't I help you with that?" He didn't let the ninja go as he turned back towards the door. "If you'll all excuse me?"

"Wait wait WAIT! Where are you taking me?" Black*Star grabbed onto the doorway to stop himself from being pulled along, but Stein only had to tug once to get him out of the room. The could hear their friend complaining for a while as he was drug away.

"I don't feel even a little bad." Soul leaned back, hands behind his head, to read against his pillow.

"I warned him," Kid said, scowling slightly. "At least the buffoon didn't bring Tsubaki with him."

Maka sat on her chair again. "That probably had more to do with Tsubaki than him."

"You're probably right."

Nygus came over with a glass of water for Soul after a while, and Soul looked up at her, his cheeks turning pink. "I'm really sorry, Nygus," he said as his hand rubbed his neck.

"Don't worry about it, Soul, it's not your fault. You had no way of knowing what was going on. I'm here all the time, anyway, so it's not all that much different for me."

"Nygus!" a voice yelled from the hall.

The nurse raised an eye at Kid, who merely shrugged at her. "He deserved to know."

Nygus nodded and made it to the door just as Sid arrived.

"So," Kid said, turing from the pair at the door. "Has Stein come up with a timeline yet?"

Maka squeezed Soul's hand a little as she answered. "He thinks Soul is regressing one year every day."

Kid's eyes widened as he looked at Soul. "So how-"

"I'm at my 14 year-old equivalent," Soul answered.

"Have you tried to transform yet today? Are you losing your abilities, or is it just your physical body that is regressing?"

Maka and Soul's snapped towards each other. It was obvious neither had even thought about it.

"We finally figured out resonance around this age," Maka whispered. "Soul-"

"On it." He grabbed her hand and transformed as she stood.

He felt her hands shake slightly on his handle. They both took a deep breath and then started. "Soul resonance!"

Their souls reached out, bounced off the other, came back again. In a matter of seconds, the light surrounding them sizzled and died. Maka grunted as she landed on her knees, causing Soul to transform back.

"Maka, what's wrong?" Kid asked coming around the bed.

"Did it hurt too much?" Soul asked.

"Did what hurt?" Kid asked.

Soul glanced up at him. "When our souls touch, the residue from the spell scratches and hurts her soul."

Maka was clutching both hands to her chest, breathing deeply as her face scrunched up against the pain. Soul rubbed her back in silence until her breathing evened out. "Maka?"

"I can't do it. It hurts too much and…" She trailed off as she met Soul's frown.

"What is it?"

"I could feel my soul rejecting yours after the first pass. The longer we resonated, the more my soul tried to push yours away because of the pain."

He sat down hard next to her as her words washed over him. "You mean-"

"Yeah." Her shoulders drooped as she looked up and whispered, "Sorry, Kid."

Soul's hand grabbed hers again, and she looked down at their joined hands as he answered Kid's silent stare. "We can't resonate anymore."


	7. Chapter 7

**As always, happy reading.**

Kid was working on some paperwork in an attempt to distract himself when Stein joined him in the Death Room. He stopped immediately, studying the professor as he made his way up the short stairs. "Do you have anything to report?"

"Soul is definitely still regressing. From what I can tell, the rate hasn't changed. By the end of the day, the scar from Crona should be gone, and either tomorrow or the day after, he'll more than likely lose his ability to transform."

Kid's shoulders slumped in a rare display of exhaustion as he rubbed his hands up and down his face. He was having a hard time keeping their friends away, and at the current rate, they were going to start ignore his warnings soon. If this blasted curse kept progressing, Soul had less than two weeks left; assuming the end of that timeframe meant Soul would no longer be around, their friends would never forgive him if they were not allowed to visit. The thought that Soul might die was hard to think about, and the lack of response from the witches was beginning to make him volatile. Even Kim had been silent since he'd started trying to contact them.

"Are his memories at least still intact?"

Stein nodded. "All cognitive functions are still good. Based on observation and Maka's recounts, his personality seems to be shifting slightly based on his physical age, but that makes sense since he's regressing through his teenage years. He's been sleeping most of the day, so far, but he seems to be managing fairly well, considering."

Kid let out a breath. "How is Maka?"

"Worried. Determined to find some way to fix this. Ignoring all possibility that Soul might not make it through." Stein smiled. "She's being typical Maka."

"That's good at least. I think it will help Soul if she remains positive."

Stein studied Kid for a while in silence before speaking again. "You okay, Kid? It seems like you're upset about more than just Soul."

"Is the thought of losing a friend, Death's Last Weapon no less, not enough for me to be upset?" Kid asked with a glare.

Stein twisted the screw in his head slightly as he watched Kid. "It seems like your focus is split. Is there something else going on?"

Kid moved around some papers on his desk. "There have been reports of weird sightings around the city. People have been seeing an influx of scorpions skittering around, and there's been some weird problems with sand build up in alleys."

"Scorpion witch," Stein murmured, making the connection.

Kid nodded. "I have a feeling Soul losing his ability to transform and these events are linked, and I intend to figure out what she's planning."

* * *

Maka watched as Soul stared hard at the arm he was holding in front of himself. It was so weird to see young Soul sitting in front of her, looking so much like when she'd first met him. He'd spent most of the previous day sleeping again, waking up to eat and use the bathroom, before going right back to sleep. Kid had allowed her to bring some things back from their apartment, after being sure she was perfectly clean so as not to not spread the curse, and the stay had become slightly more comfortable.

Soul was on day six of the curse, so he was back to his 12 year old self and finally having trouble transforming. The day before he'd still be able to do a full body transformation, even though he'd only woken up twice to do it, but that morning, he'd only been able to do partials and it seemed he'd finally lost the ability to change at all.

"Soul, your face has to be hurting. You've been scowling awfully hard for about fifteen minutes now."

"I have to make this work." His voice was higher, no longer the deep, husky tone it had settled into after puberty. "I _have_ to be able to transform."

"Stein will figure something out any day, so don't worry, okay? Not being able to transform for a while isn't that big a deal. We're not on missions or anything right now, so it'll be okay."

Soul met her eyes and she studied his expression. His eyebrows were still crinkled in the middle, his scowl was etched deep into his face. Crimson eyes bore into hers and she wasn't sure it was just anger and frustration she was seeing in their depths. Maka could feel her emotions starting to well up again, so she blindly grabbed her book from the table next to her and stood. "I'm going to go return this to the library and find something else to read. I'll be back in a little bit." He nodded once at her before she turned and left.

As soon as she was gone, Soul got out of the bed and sat on the floor, his arms wrapped around himself.

He was _useless_, disappointing, not good enough, _again_. He had been sure, once he'd discovered his weapon DNA, once he'd come to the DWMA and paired up with Maka, once he'd become a _freaking Death Scythe_, that he wouldn't have to feel like this again. Whether he was working with Kid delegating with the witches, or working with Maka to take out kishin eggs, he felt useful, he felt _good_, he felt like he was doing what he was meant to do.

Now that he couldn't even transform an arm, not even _a single finger_, those old doubts threatened to overwhelm him again. Luckily, the little ogre was still silent. He still didn't fear using the black blood, but he didn't know if that little bastard could come back and feed off his other doubts.

_Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen_, he thought as he ran his hands through his hair. Maka counted on him, _depended on him,_ and he couldn't even do his damn _job_ anymore, if he couldn't transform. They'd agreed, neither was going to do anything reckless anymore in an effort to save the other. She agreed to quit trying to push him to find a better meister, and he'd agreed to stop throwing his body in the way when there were other options. He didn't regret the times he had, not even for a second, but he knew it hurt her to watch him struggle afterwards, so he had agreed, despite his feelings on the matter.

What would she do if something happened before he figured out how to change again? Or worse, what if they didn't find a way to fix him? He might regress so far that he disappeared, and then what? Maka would be weaponless, and while he knew she _could_ find another weapon, he had a feeling she _wouldn't_. Worse still, she'd spend the rest of her life blaming herself. None of what was happening was her fault, not even in the slightest, but she was Maka, and he was Soul, so she would carry the burden anyway. Their friends would try to help, he knew that, but she wouldn't listen, wouldn't _believe_, so he had to find a way to fix this. If there was one thing he couldn't abide, it was his meister feeling at fault for his death for the rest of her life. He couldn't bear the thought of her not smiling, of the spark in her bright green eyes dimming, of the spring in her step dying with him.

He would find a way, he would make sure they fixed him, no matter what. Soul cared too goddamn much about her to leave her over something so stupid.

* * *

"Maka."

Maka jerked upright from where she'd laid her head down. The books around her were stacked haphazardly, some open, most closed, and for a moment, she didn't see anyone around. A hand on her shoulder made her jump again, and she whipped her head around to meet the golden eyes of Kid. "Sorry, guess I must have fallen asleep." Her eyes flew open. "What time is it?! How long have I been here?"

"Soul said you've been gone for about three hours."

"Shoot." Maka started piling up the books, intending to put them back. "I remembered we had a small section of books on the top floor about magic and I was hoping I could find something." One of the books slipped out of her grip and hit the floor. She reached down quickly to grab it. "Damn it, I told him I wouldn't be very long-"

"Maka." Kid grabbed her hands, causing her to stop and meet his eyes again. He squeezed her hands, his expression serious and determined. "It's going to be okay." She blinked at him a couple times and felt heat begin to spread through her body as her vision grew blurry. No, no no no, _she would not crack_. Not now. She'd _sworn_ she would hold it together. Swallowing, she fought the tears as Kid continued to hold her gaze.

"You don't know that." Her whisper barely made it to Kid's ears before she fell back into her seat, arms hugged tightly around herself. She sucked in a breath, her face growing hot as tears began to fall from her eyes.

Maka had been doing well. She had maintained her composure, had kept a smile on her face, hadn't let any doubt show since they'd returned. At first, she had been every bit as certain as she let on, but as days passed and Soul slowly lost years and his abilities, she was finding it harder to maintain her mask. Stein was at a loss, having never seen this type of magic before, and the witches were maintaining their silence. She realized that if they were going to find a cure for Soul, then she was going to have to have to help, too. Even though Nygus was also infected, she had much more time than Soul. Stein's prediction had proven correct about the rate of the spread, so Nygus had even less marks on her soul than Soul had had when he was first infected. Since she had longer, Maka wasn't convinced that anyone was as motivated as she was. Soul was more than likely going to _die_ if they couldn't fix him.

She couldn't bear that. They had been together for too long, gone through too much, for it to end like this. Maka _refused_ to let it end with Soul disappearing, or dying, or whatever would happen. She would find a way, she always did when it came to Soul. There were no other options. They'd made promises to each other, promises to help each other, to be there for each other, and she would _not_ disappoint him.

As her tears finally slowed, she raised her hand to wipe at her eyes and realized her face was pressed against something warm. She opened her eyes and realized Kid had his arms around her and her arms were around him. Apparently, once she'd started crying, he'd sat in the chair next to her and tucked her head under his chin. His suit was wet from her tears and she pulled back abruptly, her face burning. "I'm so-"

He raised his hand to cut her off. "Don't apologize, Maka. You have nothing to be sorry about. I know how hard it can be to wear a positive mask when things feel hopeless." Maka was surprised to note that Kid's eyes looked a little red and tears clung to his lashes. He stood and rubbed his eyes before fixing his suit.

"I got your suit dirty." She used the soft inner lining of her coat to wipe at her face a little.

"I have more," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "A damp shirt is worth comforting a friend." He smiled at her, squeezing when she gave him a small smile in return. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go check in with Sid. There are some things happening in the city that concern me and I'd rather try to figure out what's going on before they become problems."

"What kind of problems?"

Kid frowned. "I have a feeling that Orsh will be paying us a visit soon."

Maka felt herself grow hot again, this time for very different reasons. Her fists clenched as well as her teeth. "That witch is coming here?"

"I don't know for certain, but I have a feeling that Soul's little problem was intended to spread more than it did." Kid reached over to squeeze Maka's shoulder again. "I will come speak to you about it soon, okay? For now, I suggest you try to clean up a bit and go back to Soul. He seemed antsy when I went to visit him. Don't worry about this mess, either." He steered her away from the table laden with books. "They might still be useful. No point in putting them back in their shelves just yet."

As they parted in the hallway, Kid watched Maka make her way back towards the dispensary. As she rounded the corner, Kid finally allowed his anger out. His face contorted, his fists clenched, and his body shook with white hot rage. Kid summoned Beezlebub and quickly made his way to the Death Room. Once inside, he let out the hate and rage that burned in his belly. His screams were swallowed by the Death Room, leaving no one the wiser to his loss of control. He stalked to the platform, where he allowed himself to sit heavily on the edge.

Maka and Soul. Black*Star and Tsubaki. Liz and Patty. Not to mention all the teachers at the academy and everyone who worked for him around the world. Some day, they would all be gone, and he would be left behind with a new generation of friends and coworkers. He would be forced to watch multiple generations die and lead them to the afterlife. Kid had known all his life that was his fate, had been preparing for it as he learned from his father how to take his place one day. As Kid glared into the distance, he took deep breaths to calm himself. He refused to accept that it was going to happen so soon.

Not because of some rogue witch. Not Soul, Death's Last Weapon, Kid's good friend. He wouldn't allow it to happen, not yet.

Kid _refused_ to let it happen like this, because after watching Maka cry, he didn't think he could handle watching the rest of their friends do the same. He just didn't have it in him. Not yet.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ugh, these two always give me feels, whether I'm reading or writing about them. For anyone who is into Fairy Tail, I'm working on a fanfic right now starring Lucy and Natsu, and the installment from today had a little bit of Maka bleed into it via Lucy's outfit- whoops. So go check it out if you're into that sort of thing, and don't forget to F/F/R if you like!**

**As always, happy reading!**

Nygus walked around the hung sheet where Soul and Maka were sitting in silence. They were both staring in different directions, blank expressions on their faces. She cleared her throat quietly, startling them. "Hey you two. I'm going to take the biohazard suit so I can leave this room for a while with Sid. It's getting a little stuffy in here for me. Do you want me to get you anything before I come back?"

The pair shook their heads and she let the sheet fall back into place. They had found the suit in storage and both she and Soul had used the suit as a way to get out of the room without risking contaminating the rest of the school. As she grabbed the suit to put it on, silence still reigned on the other side of the curtain, making her sigh.

Maka turned back towards the window after Nygus disappeared and listened as she put on the suit and left with Sid, who she heard talking in the hallway. She and Soul had been sitting quietly for over an hour, neither knowing what to say. It had been two days since Soul had lost his abilities and both of them, along with Kid, Stein, and the others, were starting to panic. For her part, Maka had maintained her positive disposition and smiles despite the fear that clawed at her throat constantly. Soul had been more sullen and angry since he'd lost his ability to transform. She understood, even though he hadn't said anything, that his doubts had resurfaced about his worth now that the ability that had given him a way out of his old life was gone. Maka wanted to reassure him, wanted to make him feel better, but putting on a brave face took a lot of effort and she was exhausted. She just wanted him better so they could go home.

She missed having her arms around him while they rode home on his motorcycle. She missed his witty remarks when she scolded him for leaving his socks or boxers on the bathroom floor. She missed laughing with him over the really bad movies they sometimes watched. She missed the way she could trip him up sometimes and make him turn pink as he avoided her eyes. She missed talking over dinner and sometimes doing dishes together when they didn't finish their conversation.

She missed the way he would tap his fingers while he listened to music, as though he was playing along. She missed the way his hand was curl around her ankle when she'd put her feet in his lap on the couch. She missed the way his hair would stand straight up in the mornings after he slept on it. She missed watching his eyes light up when he told her about something he was excited about, even when she didn't fully understand. She missed his smile, his _real_ smile, that so rarely graced his lips. She missed when he would laugh, even when it was at her, because his laugh was one of the greatest sounds she'd ever heard. She missed her best friend, her partner, her Soul. The shell in front of her just wasn't the same.

Soul was slouched back against the headboard, his hands folded under his head as he stared at the ceiling. He felt weird, small and weird, in his ten year old body. It was infuriating. He was a powder keg just waiting to go off, and he could almost feel the match waiting to light him up.

Maka was staring out the window again, with a carefully neutral look he knew was for his benefit. She hadn't slipped, even once, since they'd gotten to the school. It was all smiles and neutrality; he hadn't been able to glimpse a frown or sad look even once. He suspected the only reason she left the room was to allow herself a chance to lose the mask. While he appreciated the effort, he wished she would just drop the charade. Things had been strained between them since the day they'd gotten home. They weren't acting like themselves, and their interactions were suffering because of it. Hell, he'd even welcome a Maka Chop at this point. It had been too long since she'd been anything but nice and considerate. Not that she wasn't those things normally, she _was_, but he missed the real Maka.

He missed their arguments that weren't really arguments. He missed teasing her and watching her eyes light up and a blush creep up on her cheeks. He missed those rare moments he tripped her up and she fumbled with her words. He missed her correcting him when he used a word wrong or made outlandish claims. He missed the quiet days at home on the couch where she'd read and he'd watch TV.

He missed watching her muttering to herself while she did her homework. He missed the heat in her eyes when they fought kishin. He missed how intense she could get during her arguments with Black*Star. He missed listening to her off key humming while she cooked or did other chores. He missed watching her expressions while she read, the little smiles and frowns she made for the characters in her stories. He missed the way they moved around each other so well, at school, at their apartment, while they fought. He missed the casual touching, holding hands as they walked together, brushing against each other in the kitchen, cuddling on the couch as watched tv.

He missed…

She missed…

They reached for the other's hand at the same time.

* * *

Half an hour later, they still hadn't said anything, but the silence was more comfortable. Occasionally, one of them would look up and see the other watching them. They'd smile and then look away again.

"I wonder if we'll have to make up any school days," she mused.

The break in silence was sudden and surprising, to both of them. Maka looked over as Soul's eyes widened. _Stupid,_ she thought, panicking. That was so far from what she wanted to talk about. Did she have no control over her mouth at all? Her face was getting hot and Maka resisted the urge to hide her face in her hands.

To her surprise, Soul started to laugh. She raised her eyes to him, but he didn't look at her. His head was thrown back, eyes squeezed shut, as his laughter filled the room. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and he pulled his hand away to wrap his arms around his middle as he curled up. His laughter grew in volume, broken up by gasps as he tried to take in enough air. Maka remained frozen as she watched him. She'd never seen him laugh so hard in her entire life, with that edge of madness seeping through as he gasped for air.

After a while his laughter quieted to chuckles, eventually silencing as he caught his breath. Maka remained frozen until he reached over and took her hand again. She absently noted that their hands were basically the same size.

"I… don't understand what just happened," she said as he met her eyes. He was still grinning, his face more relaxed than she'd seen since they had gone on the last mission.

"It figures you'd be worried about school. You're such a bookworm," he accused as he tightened his hold on her hand.

Her cheeks puffed up. "Of course I'm worried about school! It's not like we're magically going to get out of homework just because the school is closed right now!"

Soul chuckled again. "You're something else, Maka."

She flushed again at his words, but didn't comment. "I hope Blair is okay without us."

He scoffed. "She'll be fine. Kid mentioned that Liz went over to talk to her about the curse, but she didn't have any idea how to fix it either. Sounded like she hadn't even noticed we were missing. She just thought our mission ran long."

"I did leave her a note when I went back to the apartment. She must not have seen it." Maka groaned. "There's going to be a huge mess when we get back, isn't there?"

"Probably," Soul said. He didn't comment on the way she said 'when' instead of 'if'.

They were silent for a while before Maka spoke again. "I miss our movie nights."

"I miss my bed."

"I miss my spot on the couch."

"I miss your cooking."

Maka blushed a little. "I miss going on missions."

"I miss souls." He licked his lips a little at the thought.

Maka snorted. "So you miss sleep and food?"

"What else is there?"

She sighed, looking out the window again. "Do you think once they fix you, you'll go back to the way you were before?"

He shrugged. "No idea, but I hope so. I don't wanna have to go through that nonsense of learning how to transform all over again. Not to mention hunting down all those souls again for a _third_ time if I've lost my abilities."

Her nose wrinkled. "I didn't even think about that."

"Plus, I'd rather not go through puberty again. Not that I wasn't cool when I was younger, but I'm _way_ cooler as a Death Scythe."

She rolled her eyes at him. He _would_ be worried about that.

"Maka." She looked up and froze. Every day Soul's body grew younger and younger, losing muscle mass, growing shorter, face regaining baby fat. Every day his hair was a mess, his clothes slowly grew too big and his skin lost more and more scars. His eyes, though, never changed. Their shape, their color, their intensity; his eyes were always the same.

It was Shakespeare who said that they eyes were the window to the soul, but it was Soul who had made her understand that phrase. He had always been so good at wearing a mask, usually of boredom, that it was hard to know what he was thinking all the time, but Maka knew him. They had been partners for years, and she had learned early on that she could figure out what he was thinking so long as she could see his eyes. Even when his face was stone, she could always see exactly what she needed to in those blood red depths… until now.

There was too much, she realized. There was so much going on in his those crimson pools that for once she couldn't decipher what he was trying to hide… or what he was trying to express. Instead of trying to bury his thoughts, she felt as though he was putting them all on display for her. She had barely begun to try before there were hurried footsteps at the door.

A hand ripped the curtains out of the way as Kid appeared. "Maka, I need you. NOW." Before she could respond, Kid's hand grabbed her own and pulled her behind him.

"Hey-!" Soul sat up but froze at the glare shot his way.

"You stay here. It's too dangerous for you."

"_What?_" The door to the infirmary was slammed closed as he watched Kid drag his meister away.

Maka managed to get her feet to cooperate and she hurried behind Kid, who still had her hand. "What's going on, Kid?"

"_That witch is here,_" he growled. "For now, it appears that the townsfolk are safe, but she's somehow acquired an army of kishin and what appear to be oversized scorpions that are making their way through the town towards the school. I know you don't have a weapon right now, but you've been practicing with Black*Star recently on your hand to hand combat, correct?"

"Yeah, we've been practicing a few times a week. He's been trying to teach me how to use Soul Force, too, but I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet."

"I need your help, then. I won't put you on the front lines, not without a weapon, but I need your soul perception to help me find the witch. I believe she's using magic to increase the scorpions' size and control them, so if we can find her and take her out, we'll only have the kishin she dragged with her to deal with. Can you do that?"

Kid glanced over his shoulder at her, seeing her determined look as she continued to run with him. "I absolutely can."


	9. Chapter 9

**As always, happy reading!**

The area around the school was quiet, but that only allowed for the sounds of fighting around town to be easily heard. Weapon and meister pairs were all over the place, trying to take care of the creatures that were swarming the streets. Many of the more experienced teams had paired up with the younger pairs so that they could help, but the tension and fear were still heavy in the air all around them.

In the distance, above the din of the fighting, a distinct laugh could be heard as Black*Star fought, alone except for Tsubaki, a couple blocks away. He was easily taking down swarms of the enemy, but for every one he took out, at least two more took its place. They had been on their way to the school to talk to Kid when the attack had started, so Tsubaki had transformed while Black*Star drew the attention of anything within earshot.

Ox with Harvar, Kilik with the twins, Professor Stein; they had all spread out as well, calling attention to themselves to try and slow the spread of the enemy. Maka watched from her post near the top of the school, wishing she could help. It had become clear early on that the only targets for the swarm were meisters and weapons. They barrelled down the streets, heading straight for the school, only stopping to fight once they've found DWMA students.

Maka closed her eyes, forcing the sounds of the fight from her thoughts. She had to concentrate. She hated not being able to fight with the others, but if she could just find the witch, Kid could rally Spartoi to try and take care of her. He was currently flying on Beezlebub near the school, trying to aid the meisters who were struggling while he waited for Maka to finish her search.

Breathing deeply, she opened herself up to the souls that surrounded her. There was so much noise, so many souls, so she slowly thinned them out. _Focus._ She trimmed out the citizens, huddled in their homes. _Focus._ The souls from the scorpions weren't even human, so they were easy to ignore. _Focus._ Carefully but quickly, she went through the weapon and meister pairs, leaving Spartoi as bright, shining beacons. _Focus_…

"Oh dear." A voice behind her disrupted her thoughts. Her body chilled as she recognized the voice, before the inferno that was her anger filled her to chase away the cold. She whipped around to find Orsch standing on the roof over the doors leading inside. "My dear Maka, I'm disappointed. It appears you aren't as close to the little Shinigami as I thought."

This caught Maka off guard. Kid was on the other side of the school right now. He would be back quickly from wherever he'd flown off to to help, but Maka would have to stall until then. "What makes you think we're not good friends?"

"Well I saw him fighting and those two little pistols of his are as strong as ever!" She sat down, her tail hanging above her head as menacing as it was the first time they met.

"So?"

"So?" The witch blinked, confused. "Have you not noticed what's happening to your dear partner in there?" She pointed below her.

"It's hard not to. I'd appreciate it if you'd fix it, so I don't have to kick your ass and force you."

The witch's laugh was high and carefree, irritating Maka. "Oh dear, you really are so adorable when you're trying to be scary!" When Maka's scowl deepened, the witch merely continued to laugh.

Maka swallowed, locking her muscles to keep herself from jumping at the witch. She couldn't fight her on her own, she knew that. Kid would be back soon, she just had to hold out until then. "What does Soul's condition have to do with my friendship with Kid?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The witch tsked. "Are you telling me Maka Albarn, three star meister, creator of Death's Last Weapon and top student of her class hasn't figured out my plan?" She frowned. "Really Maka, I'm disappointed. I expected more."

Maka watched the tail as it started to move around, trying to think through the witch's words. Orsch stood, her tail lengthening as she stretched out her body. "Oh well, I guess. I got the resident Death Scythe at any rate. It would have been easier with less weapons running around, but I can make this work."

Maka felt her gut sink as she finally put the pieces together. The only Death Scythes in Death city right now were Marie and Soul, since her father was in Oceania. Stein and Marie had taken a vacation with their daughter, and only Stein had come back to help with Soul. She knew from speaking with Kid that Orsch was a very powerful witch, one who would be hard to beat without a Death Scythe, and with Soul out of commision…

"You were hoping to infect the Thompson sisters first, so it would spread to Soul and the other weapons! No," she studied the witch, whose tail had paused in its movement. "Not just them. You were counting on Spartoi being close enough that we'd spend time together and the curse would spread to all of us, and to the rest of the school."

"Ding ding ding!" Orsch smiled, her tail moving again as she hopped down. "Very good, Maka, I knew you'd get there! Or close any rate." Her eyes twinkled as the pair started to slowly started to move around each other. "It wasn't hope that was supposed to get you together. I know about your monthly meetings," she disclosed in a stage whisper. "I conveniently let my location slip so that, had you come back on time, the whole lot of you would have been together." She gave Maka an exaggerated frown. "Where were you, Maka? I was counting on you to be at that meeting." Her tail suddenly lengthened and shot out at the meister, who easily sidestepped the attack.

"Sorry to disappoint," Maka huffed. _Where on earth is Kid?_ "Our rental had a flat tire, so it took us a few days to get back."

"Hmm…" The witch turned to look out at the fighting around the town. Her tail shot out at Maka twice, which she dodged, before the witch turned back. "That must mean you figured out there was a problem in time and quarantined yourselves. Very smart," she said as Maka dodged her tail again. "It's really too bad you're both so young. A few years older and the changes wouldn't have been noticeable enough for you to see so quickly."

"It wasn't the reverse aging that I noticed first," Maka said, kicking the tail with her foot.

Orsch perked up, her tail remaining at her side for a moment. "Oh really? What gave it away?"

"I could see it growing on his soul," Maka said, ignoring the fear building in her belly. Kid should have returned to check on her by now.

Orsch waved her hand at her. "I expected that. Most meisters don't have soul perception, so that side effect doesn't concern me so much. That wouldn't be enough to make you figure out what the problem is."

"That isn't what made me first consider the possibility that he was regressing," Maka corrected after dodging two more thrusts from the witch's tail. _Any time now, Kid_.

Orsch sighed. "My dear, I know what you're trying to do." Maka froze. "I'd prefer a straight forward conversation about this, if you don't mind. Stop trying to build up to it, and just tell me! I can't perfect the curse without feedback, so tell what you noticed first."

"His scars."

The witch looked at her confused. She crossed her arms and rubbed her chin with her finger as her tail coiled under her so she could sit above the door again. "His scars?"

Maka gauged the distance between herself and the door that the witch sat above. Orsch was staring into space as she considered Maka's words. Was she distracted enough that Maka could make it? The way the tail continued to move around, poised in her direction, made her think it wouldn't be wise.

"Several months ago, Soul got cut on his chin during a fight. It's hard to see if you don't know it's there, but I do, and I noticed when it disappeared. Not to mention the other, larger scars that also faded."

"Hmm, I did not consider that." The witch began to mumble to herself about the side effects of reverse aging for a while as Maka covertly scanned the area around her. Fights were continuing to rage on around her, but she noticed their intensity had decreased. Keeping an eye on the witch as she muttered to herself, Maka scanned the city with her soul perception, finally realizing why Kid was being held up. Most of the enemy had converged on the side opposite them where none of the members of Spartoi were, so Kid was caught trying to help the younger pairs fighting there.

It was going to be a while before Kid could make it back to her.

Orsch looked up. "Out of curiosity, did you guys figure out how quickly he was reversing?"

Maka didn't answer right away, causing the witch's tail to strike. She rolled, ducking as the tail swung at her before moving away again. "Now now, Maka, this is research! Why are you trying to inhibit learning? That doesn't seem like you." The tail shot out again, more quickly this time, before it pulled back and shot out again.

Maka continued to dodge for a while until she felt her foot stumble on a piece of rubble under her. "One year per day!" she cried out, causing the tail to halt midair.

Unexpectedly, the witch pulled back again, laughing. "Oh, this is wonderful! Maka dear, you really are being a big help. I never expected you to figure out the curse so quickly. Tell me," she said, leaning forward from her seated position. "Was it the disappearing scars that helped you figure it out? If I remember, Soul has had some doozies." She ran a finger diagonally across her chest, making Maka furious. "I assume you compared the disappearances of the scars to the dates to figure it out?"

Maka kept silent, unsure just how much she should give away. Initially, she'd just been trying to buy time for Kid to show up but she didn't know if that was going to happen before the witch ran out of questions. Maybe it was best that she stop talking. Orsch must have noticed her dilemma, because her tail shot out, even faster this time as she hopped down from her perch again. Maka dodged, but was thrown forward as the tail hit her from behind. She landed on her hands and knees in front of the witch.

"I'll give you one more chance," Orsch said. "Answer my question, and I won't kill you right here, right now." A large drop of green dripped off the point of her tail. It landed a few feet in front of her, instantly eating away at the stone where it landed. Maka tensed her muscles, waiting for the attack as she shook her head.

Orsch frowned. The tail landed in front of Maka, who barely jumped away. It then ripped out of the ground and flung Maka in the air.

"Scor scorpio, scor scorpion. Sand Storm!" The sand came from above, slamming Maka's body back down onto the stone. Maka barely held back a scream as her body bounced slightly. Suddenly, the tail was poised above her, inches above her face.

"I'm sorry we couldn't spent more time together, my dear Maka. This has been rather fun." Orsch was standing a few feet away, her arms crossed. She shrugged before she turned away. "Oh well."

The tail lifted, the tip starting to ooze green again. Maka focused on her muscles, preparing to jump away, but the pain knocked the breath out of her. She saw the tail pause, saw it aim at her chest, but she refused to look away.

She always did that. Maka always closed her eyes to the blows she knows she couldn't dodge. She always closed her eyes so she didn't have to see the blow that might end her life, but not this time. She is alone; she has to do what she can to survive on her own, and if she can't do that, she will look her death in the eye. She would be courageous and face this down.

It's because she had her eyes open that she saw it. She had prepared to try and dodge, knowing the chances aren't in her favor. Even though he wasn't there, she silently apologized to Soul, knowing he wouldn't take the news well, and hoping he wouldn't blame himself for too long. With eyes wide open, she saw the the tail come down at her. As she suspected, when she tried to throw her body out of the way, her limbs buckled from the pain and she didn't move.

Before the blow could land, before the blue sky above her could be ripped from her vision in favor of the red of her blood or the black of her death, her vision was suddenly filled with white.

_Soul…_


	10. Chapter 10

**Happy Friday, and happy reading!**

The sound of flesh on metal rang out. Maka's fearful scream of his name died as the witch turned around, eyes wide with surprise. Soul was leaning backwards over her, arm raised to block the blow meant for her… and his arm was a blade.

He had been hiding in the shadows near the doors watching the fight between Maka and the witch. After being locked in the infirmary, he'd eventually figured out how to unlock the door from the inside. (What kind of door in a school has the option to lock from the outside?) It had taken some time figure out where she had gone, and by then, she'd been talking to the witch. It was obvious the witch was just playing with his meister, but he hadn't known what to do to help. In his current state, he would just get in the way, but he hadn't been able to draw away from them, even to go look for help.

She had been doing well, biding her time, keeping the witch distracted; keeping herself safe while trying to work out a plan. When she had refused to answer the last question, when her eyes had lost their calculation and become resigned, he had known that she was allowing herself to fail, and he couldn't let that happen. After she had been slammed down into the stones, he'd seen the pain in her eyes when she'd tried to get ready to defend herself. He'd watched that tail taunt her, causing his mind to blank and his body to take over.

The fact that the neither one had noticed him sooner meant he'd somehow managed to go through the door without yanking it open. As the stinger had risen, he'd run and thrown himself in front of her, breaking his promise to not be reckless and take a hit for her again. As he'd landed in front of her, the stinger had come down, and he'd whispered his apologies only to hear that familiar ping of metal instead.

There was a sting as the corrosive ooze trickled onto his blade. "Shit," he swore, then shook the green goo off his arm as the witch turned his way to stare. Still, the pain barely phased him as he stared at his arm. All of his doubt, the worry, the anger and the guilt that had been slowly drowning him the last few days was completely erased. He could change again, and so long as he was able to transform, to fight, to protect his meister, he was whole.

"Oh dear," Orsch said conversationally, her surprise gone. "I guess I should have finished this sooner." As the tail swung again, Soul blocked each swing as he kept his body between the tail and Maka. "There's only one way to break my curse; the fact that there is a way at all still irritates me, but that's the only weakness it has." The attacks continued as Orsch spoke. "Figures. If anyone was going to find the way to break it, I knew it would be the ever faithful Soul 'Eater' Evans. It really is too bad that you didn't stay away," she said as the stinger landed close enough to rip his pants. "Her death would have been quicker if you had."

Soul heard Maka whisper his name behind him, even over the sound of the stinger slamming into his blade. The attacks increased in speed and ferocity as he continued to protect his meister. The witch's expression never changed as the tail increased the speed of its attacks. Soul watched, blocking each one as it came, waiting for his chance, hoping she wouldn't grow bored and add her magic to the mix before he had his chance to strike back.

His chance came when the tail swung too wide in an effort to reach behind him to hit Maka. Soul blocked the swing with his foot, kicking it to the side, as he swung his blade down and cut clean through her tail.

Orsch screamed as she yanked her tail away, blood spurting all over Soul, the ground and herself.

"Maka, we gotta get out of here!" he said.

"No," she said, slowly sitting up behind him. "We'll fight. Can you transform?"

"I don't know," he answered as he kept his eye on the screaming witch. "I didn't try to do it _this_ time."

Maka could see that he wasn't back to normal, but he wasn't as small as he'd been earlier in the day. No longer fearing the pain, she reached out to his soul with her own. When his soul wrapped around hers in return, they both sighed. "I think you can. Your soul is back to normal."

"Can you stand?" He glanced at her over his shoulder and worried for a second about the blood he could see, but the determination in her eyes gave him his answer.

Maka barely felt the pain anymore. The euphoria over Soul no longer being cursed, about him being at her side to fight with her, where he belonged, blocked out all else. If he was there with her, she could fight as long as she needed to. They would win- to do any less was unthinkable.

Orsch screamed, "You are so _dead_," but Soul was already in the hands of his meister. Maka swung him in front of herself as the witch curled her tail protectively behind her back. "You ready witch? We still have a soul to collect!"

Instead of answering, Orsch waved her hands in front of herself. "Scor scorpio, scor scorpion. Sand Summons!" As Maka moved forward, the witch hopped back onto the roof behind her. "Scor scorpio, scor scorpion. Sand Wall!" A windy wall of sand appeared in front of them, whipping at Maka's coat and making it difficult to see.

"Shit." Maka held her hand in front of her face as she backed away from the sandy barrier.

"_Can you sense her, Maka?_"

Maka closed her eyes to reach out. She could feel the pained soul hiding behind the sand and climbing up the roof slowly, but it was the other souls she sensed that worried her. "Uh, Soul?"

"_Yeah?_"

She took the couple steps back so she could look down at the city. "We've got company coming."

Around them, she could see that all of the scorpions in the city had started making their way towards the school. With her perception, she could feel them all ignoring the other meisters and weapons to charge the school. She faintly heard Black*Star yelling at them, and she could feel worry spike in Kid's wavelength as he came barreling in their direction. The rest of Spartoi also began making their way, the fastest of them being Black*Star as he used his shadows.

"Soul, we have to fly!"

"_Will you be able to keep you balance okay?_"

"Yeah, I'll be fine, let's go!" They managed to get their wings to sprout just as the first scorpion arrived and narrowly missed hitting them. They rose up into the air as Kid and Black*Star arrived.

"YO, WHAT IS GOING ON?" the assassin yelled.

"Maka, are you okay?" Kid asked as he stopped near her. "Wait a minute. How did you fix Soul?"

"By reinforcing a _really_ bad behavior!" At his confused expression, Maka waved her hand. "No time to explain. The witch is still down there!"

"SOUL IS BACK!" Black*Star seemed to realize as he threw his arms out. "IT'S ABOUT DAMN TI-" The assassin fell a few feet before his shadow caught him again. "Oh no, they did NOT just cut my shadow!" He yanked his shadow up, falling towards the school before the other two could stop him. "YAHOOO! YOU'RE ALL MINE NOW!"

Maka and Kid didn't say anything as they turned towards the witch, who was leaving a long trail of blood behind her as she moved across the roof away from them.

"You ready, Maka? Soul?"

"Yeah, let's finish her off."

"_Dibs on her soul!_" Soul's voice rang out as he briefly appeared reflected on his blade.

Kid laughed, but didn't bother to remind him he couldn't have it. Kid flew to cut the witch off, shooting in front of her to stop. "I'll let you two clean this up, how does that sound?"

"Sounds good to me!" Maka landed behind the witch, flipping Soul as his blade appeared again. Orsch turned their way, her calm demeanor completely gone.

"You will pay for this! Both of you!" she screamed before turning to Kid. "First though, I'll take care of you! I only have to take you out, little Shinigami, and then the witches will have free reign again! I don't give a damn about your treaty! _Witches_ will rule this world soon enough, just you wait! SCOR SCORPIO-"

"Get ready, Soul!" Maka yelled as she charged.

"-SCOR SCORPION! SAND TAKEOVER!" A blast of hot, sandy air shot out of the witch, knocking Maka off her feet and down the roof. The force also pushed Kid away, but he quickly recovered.

"I wasn't expecting that," Kid said. He saw Maka stop her fall with Soul's blade before she could be knocked off the roof.

Below him, a massive scorpion, easily several times the size of the others, had appeared on the roof in place of the witch. It snapped its pincers at the two flying meisters while two of the three tails curled menacingly over its back. The biggest one remained curled on itself near the creature's body, bleeding slowly.

"_What the hell is THAT?_" Liz asked.

"I believe that's the witch," Kid said, flying higher after one of the tails swung their way.

"_Are you sure, Kid? How is that possible?_"

"I don't know, but it definitely has the witch's soul inside of it." He looked over as Maka came to hover near him. "Well, Maka, any ideas?"

"_Kill her_," Soul shouted as he and Maka dodged one of the tails. The creature was trying to climb higher up the school as they continued to dodge and weave through the air.

"_Yeah!_" Patty cried. "_Let's take this crazy lady down!_"

Maka flew high to dodge two more swings as she studied the scene below. "If Black*Star can keep the little ones busy long enough, you and I can work on her. If you can draw her attention I can get in and land a hit. The armor on top of her body doesn't look like it can be pierced, but I'm betting she's got a soft spot on her belly somewhere."

"I'll see what I can do," Kid said, flying towards the thing's face. His shots bounced off the armor, not leaving a single mark, but it was obviously upsetting the witch. "How disgusting! Your body is disgusting!" he cried as he continued to shoot. "Three tails? And one of them has been cut unsymmetrically! You disgust me!"

He continued to dodge as he shot at the creature's face. One of the shots hit the thing in the eye, causing it to scream out. It flailed around, the sound rising and falling as it thrashed. One of the tails knocked one of the spires off, making it fly at the pile of scorpions fighting with Black*Star. As the ninja dodged, the creature continued to roll over the side, knocking more of the enemy away.

"Hey, Kid! Watch it! I'm trying to fight over here!"

Kid ignored him as his glared at the witch. "How dare you destroy the symmetry of my father's school! I will have to teach you a lesson for that." He pulled back out of range. "Liz! Patty! SOUL RESONANCE!"

As the trio began to resonate, their souls kicked up the wind around them, drawing the rest of the witch's attention. She turned, her two remaining tails beginning to ooze green. Maka took the opportunity to silently glide with Soul closer to her so she could scan the creature's belly.

"_You were right, there's no armor_," Soul said, just loud enough for her to hear.

"We just have to get in at a good angle. She won't stay distracted for long. You ready? You'll need to get your blade out and we'll have to resonate as soon as we land."

"_You got it_," he said, preparing. The thrill of being able to transform, of being able to fight with Maka once more, was positively addicting. He hadn't been this excited about something in a very long time. The thrill distracted him enough that he almost missed the third tail uncoiling again. As Maka circled around, he saw the movement just before she touched down. "_Maka, move now!_"

The warning came too late. Soul kept his blade in and tried to maintain the wings, but she was already hopping off when he yelled. Maka turned just in time to see the third tail swing at her and knock her off balance. She lost her grip on Soul as she bounced and rolled down the roof. Soul transformed and flung himself after his meister as an explosion sounded overhead from Kid blasting his Death Canon at the giant scorpion body. Soul managed to catch Maka's hand as she fell over the edge and stabbed his bladed arm into the roof to avoid falling as well. "Maka! Don't let go of me!"

Maka's hold increased slightly, but she still wasn't gripping hard enough to hang on for long. Her eyes were shut and her body felt more and more like dead weight as her grip slackened in his. He saw blood start to drip down her face, and he realized that she had hit her head on the way down.

As Soul glanced up, that became only his second most pressing problem. The force of Kid's shot had caused the witch's oversized body to lose purchase on the roof and she was sliding directly at them. He saw Kid flying their way, so he began to swing Maka as he watched the body getting closer. "Kid! Catch her!"

Maka, still clinging to consciousness, opened one of her eyes to look up. "What are you doing, Soul?" She didn't know why he was swinging her, but it couldn't be helping him hang on to her. "What do you mean 'catch her'?"

"No time to explain, just grab on to him the best you can, alright?" Soul only had a couple more seconds. With as much strength as he could muster, he swung her back again, ignoring her widened eyes.

"Wait, Soul-"

Just as Kid got within range, Soul flung Maka at him as hard as he could before the creature rolled over the edge and they both fell off the building in a cloud of dust.


	11. Chapter 11

**As always, happy reading.**

"SOUL!" Maka's scream was cut off as Kid caught her, cursing quietly under his breath. She clung to him as he regained his balance, then helped her place her feet on Beezlebub. As he rose back up into the air, they watched the creature sink it's pincers into the side of the building to slow its fall. It knocked off another spire and crashed through one of the candles before landing in the courtyard. Dust clouds rose up everywhere, making it difficult to see the damage.

"Soul!" Maka cried out again.

"Calm down, Maka," Kid said, firmly holding her still. "I'm sure he's alright. Just breath." As she focused on her breathing, she vaguely heard him mumble about the ruined symmetry of the school.

Tears filled Maka's eyes making it even more difficult to see. The large creature had landed on top of many of the smaller ones, causing them to hiss and skitter. A shout drew their attention and they watched as Black*Star squirmed his way out from under the larger body.

"KID! MAKA! If you need help, all you have to do is _ask!_ A big star like me can handle these little guys all day, but I'm more than willing to take out this big bad if you're having problems!"

Kid lowered himself as he shot the smaller scorpions that moved to attack Black*Star once the larger one had righted itself. "Maka, I have to put you down so I can help Black*Star. Can you see where Soul landed?"

Maka wiped the tears from her eyes as she tried to see through the clouds that were still settling. "No… no I can't- wait! There he is!" Just below the roof where they'd initially fallen, Soul was hanging, one bladed arm stuck into the wall holding him up. He had blood soaking through his sleeve, but otherwise looked okay as he tried to pull himself through the window he was hanging next to, the sounds of coughing finally reaching their ears. "Soul!"

He only glanced up for a moment as Kid flew closer. "Maka, can you guys make it down if I get you to the window?" Below them, Black*Star had begun to fight the witch as well as her minions. With the witch's involvement, he'd been forced to abandon any offensive moves in favor of dodging the many attacks being focused his way. Despite her eyes following Kid and Maka, the witch's two tails had begun to attack their companion, moving much faster than those of her army.

"Yeah, we'll figure it out." Maka hopped into the window as Kid hovered near it.

"About time," Soul grumbled as he took her hand and fully transformed.

"Let's stick with the original attack," Kid said before he began to fly away.

"You got it!" Maka yelled as she moved into the room. They were in a classroom, and as soon as they made it to the hallway, she knew just which way to go. Maka moved quickly through the building, her focus entirely on the witch waiting outside. She wasn't going to fail again- she was getting that witch's soul.

* * *

Black*Star barely dodged another attack from the witch as he used the shadows he controlled to throw two more scorpions towards the stairs. They landed at the top and began to roll, knocking more of their brethren down as they fell. "Hey guys! You planning on helping any time soon?" he hollered, just before shots began to rain down around him.

"Sorry," Kid called as he landed next to his teammate. "Soul got knocked off the roof by the witch so I had to get Maka back up to him."

"What's the plan here? I can't seem to cut the big one." Black*Star dodged again, trying once more to cut at the tail that landed next to him, but none of Tsubaki's blades had been able to even scratch its armor yet.

"Leave it to Maka," Kid answered, dodging the other tail. "Just keep her attention for now."

"Ha! Keep her attention? That's rich!" He spun in a circle, knocking a few more of the scorpions over the edge of the courtyard. "There's no one alive who can take the spotlight off _me!_"

As they continued to fend off the smaller scorpions, the witch adjusted her stance slightly so that she could watch the fight, her tails still striking at a blurring pace. When Kid was briefly pinned, she struck with her tail, the green ooze sizzling as it ate through the ground next to him. "Damn it! Black*Star, don't let her tails touch you! That stuff is corrosive!" Both of them bounced back as the second tail landed hard next to them, crushing one of her own minions.

Maka watched from the door, just as Soul had done before, waiting for her oppotunity. "_Well, what are we gonna do?_" Soul asked as he watched with her. "_From here, she'll see us coming_."

"I know, Soul." She cringed as she watched the witch's injured tail swing out and knock Black*Star to the ground. When she moved to lean away from the wall to see more of the fight, she suddenly gasped out loud and dropped to her knees. Soul transformed in the blink of an eye to drop to her side.

"What's wrong?"

Maka drug in painful breaths as she slowly rotated her torso to find a more comfortable position to breathe in. "I think I may have broken a rib or two when she slammed me into the courtyard. It didn't hurt this bad before. It must have been cracked before and I just moved funny."

"Maka, if you can't fight, I can go out there by myself. If your ribs _are_ broken, they could puncture your lung. Just let me go-"

Maka grabbed his arm and squeezed. "No," she growled. "Your body isn't fully recovered yet. What if this form isn't used to the movements you learned during your solo training? If you mess up even once you could _die_." She took a deep breath, ignoring the pain. "I can do this. I don't want to risk you getting hurt again."

"Maka, don't make me do the 'weapon protects the meister' spiel again. If you're injured, you're just as likely to mess up as I am. Even if my body isn't fully recovered, I still remember how to fight on my own. I can handle it!"

Maka shook her head again, trying to stand. "I'm not risking it."

"Maka, would you just _listen_ to me for once?" Soul grabbed her face and pulled it to his. "I got hurt, big deal, it happens all the time. Same for you. Same for all of us!" He glanced over her shoulder towards the door, making sure the noise from the battle was loud enough to cover their shouts. "We're partners, remember? Which means we help the other whenever they need it. We also _trust_ each other, right? So can you just take care of your damn self for once and just _trust me_ to handle this?"

Maka's eyes began to water as she stared into Soul's fierce crimson eyes. "Of course I trust you, you idiot. I just don't like the idea of you fighting alone. I'm the meister, I'm _supposed_ to fight with you." He sighed before letting go of her face. She grabbed his hand before he could move away. "Fine! I get it, I'm being stubborn. I'm going to help though. I refuse to just sit here."

Soul rubbed his free hand over his face, grumbling. "You got a plan, then?"

Maka looked outside and watched the fight for a moment. "I think so, but I'm going to need you to help me get back up to the roof." She smiled as Soul helped her to her feet, wheezing slightly as she tried to breathe through the pain. "I think I have just the thing."

* * *

"Death Canon!" Kid fired off a shot, clearing out another large chunk of the scorpions as Black*Star sent another half dozen flying nearby. They continued to duck and weave, beating back the numerous scorpions while avoiding attacks from the witch.

"Hey, Kid, is something gonna happen some time soon, 'cause this is getting _real_ boring."

"I told you, Black*Star, we have a plan."

"What exactly is th- what the hell?" Black*Star jumped and landed on one of the scorpions, driving Tsubaki's blade into to to keep his balance. "What's Maka doing up on the roof?"

"What?!" Kid turned around to find Maka standing on top of the roof, clinging to a metal beam that had poked through. _How is this part of the plan?_ Kid turned to shoot another one dead before looking up again. _Where is Soul?_

"Orsch, you _lied to me!_" Maka's scream managed to momentarily stop all of the fighting. Black*Star and Kid, back to back now, looked up at their friend, surprised. The witch looked up, tails momentarily still, her army as frozen as she. Maka's shoulders drooped, tears falling in rivers down her face. "You said he fixed it, and _you lied to me!_"

"You mean Soul isn't better?" Black*Star shouted.

"He was," Maka responded, then glared at their opponent. "He's not anymore. He's no longer aging backwards, but now he's… he's…" She choked as she sobbed out loud. "He's dying!"

Kid and Black*Star both took a step towards her before they were forced back by the witch's tail. She turned back towards the school to fully face Maka, her tails and her army moving once more to force her teammates away. The witch climbed partially onto the building, her pincers holding her up so she could see Maka, who glared back.

"You told me he was fixed! He's not fixed, it's _worse_ now! Soul's aging much more quickly than he was regressing. When I left him, he was old and gray and could barely move! He couldn't even transform anymore! You said you fixed it and you lied to me! I thought you were so _sure_ about your damn spell, so _sure_ you knew how it would affect him and you _were wrong!_" Maka let herself fall onto her butt as she let out another sob. "_Please_, fix him. _Please_. I will do whatever you want just _please don't make me lose my partner!_"

There was a blast of sand and heat that swirled around the courtyard. Black*Star anchored himself and Kid with his shadows as many of the scorpions they had been fighting were flung from the courtyard. When everything settled down, Orsch was back to her human form, a thoughtful expression on her face. She was holding herself up by her tails on top of a pile of rubble, her body floating high enough she could see Maka.

"Scor scorpio, scor scorpion. Sand Wall." Orsch created a wall of sand behind her, closing herself and Maka off from her friends. "He's aging forward now?" she asked.

"Yes," Maka answered, wrapping her arms around herself so she could breathe more easily. "He's getting old and he's going to die if you don't fix him."

"And you'd do _anything_ to get me to fix him?"

"Yes," she choked out.

"You know that what I want is help in eliminating the little Shinigami."

Maka seemed to think about her response before whispering, "He's worth it."

Orsch leaned back a little, her eyebrows shooting up towards her hairline. "I can't say I expected that."

"Did you expect this?" a voice asked a moment before a large blade pierced through her stomach, sending blood flying.

The witch gasped, but Soul was already finishing the swing, cutting her in half. The sand wall behind him disappeared just as her body did, leaving behind the glowing purple soul. All around them, a high keening sound assaulted their ears for a moment, then suddenly stopped as the scorpions around them shrunk and began to skitter away.

Soul stood, a grin on his face as Kid and Black*Star ran to his side. His grin vanished when he looked up at the roof where Maka had laid down.

"Nicely done, Soul," Kid said as Patty and Liz transformed.

"I could've done better," Black*Star said, "but at least she's finally gone." Tsubaki transformed as well, a worried look on her face as she also looked up at Maka.

"Is she alright?" Tsubaki asked.

"She will be." Soul took a running leap off the pile of rubble they were on and landed on the roof. "Can you guys go get Nygus or Stein? You can get to the roof from the Full Moon classroom."

"Black*Star will go find them," Kid said. "Liz, Patty and I have some work to do." Kid carefully grabbed the witch's soul as the group went inside.

Soul climbed the roof until he could sit next to his partner, who was breathing very slowly. Worried, he leaned over her. "Maka, are you okay?"

"Not really," she whispered. "It's easier to breathe if I do it slowly though."

"Black*Star and Tsubaki are going to find Nygus or the crazy professor."

Maka chuckled, making the pain spike. "Guess I'll be out here a while then. I don't think I should move until one of them gets here."

"Probably a good idea." Soul studied her face for a while as they sat there in silence. "How did you know that would work?" he asked eventually.

"When I spoke to her earlier, she was very interested in her experiment. She was convinced she knew _exactly_ how the spell would work, even if there was one side effect that she couldn't get rid of. I was pretty sure if I could convince her that you were dying because of something she didn't know the spell did, she'd be interested enough to stop fighting to figure out what was going on. And I was right."

"You were pretty convincing," Soul said, leaning back on his hands. The one closest to Maka settled next to her hand, so she moved it so her fingers were on top of his.

"I've had some experience with those situations," she said, her voice hoarse. Carefully, she raised her free hand to wipe tears from her cheeks. "I think I need a break from them."

"You and me both," he said. He squeezed his fingers gently around the ones that had settled between his. "Kid's been pretty busy lately. What do you say we convince him to bring your father back here for a visit so the seven of us can take some time off?"

Maka opened her eyes and studied his profile. "I meant a break from the near death experiences."

"I know what you meant," he replied, turning to look at her. "However, I think we could all use a break in general. We've all been pretty stressed recently. It would be good for all of us to take some time off. Besides, this is the longest break we've ever had from seeing Black*Star and I kinda miss the idiot."

Maka laughed, immediately regretting the action as pain raced through her chest. "Ugh, okay." Soul smiled and then laid down next to her, flipping his hand so that their palms came together and he could hold her hand.

"You know, I meant what I said," she murmured.

"What do you mean?"

"That you were worth it. I'd do anything I could to save you." She didn't meet his gaze when he turned her way, and he didn't say anything else, just studied her for a while before turning to stare above them again.

They watched the clouds float overhead, listening as the city slowly came back to life. They could hear students beginning to come back to the school, marveling at the damage done to the building. Every now and then, Soul or Maka would squeeze the other's hand as they waited. Maka smiled to herself, despite the pain and the discomfort that she felt, as they took in the sky above them, relaxed for the first time in what she felt was too long.

**Don't worry guys, this isn't quite the end. I can't finish without explaining what those pesky witches have been up to, now can I?**


	12. Chapter 12

**As always, happy reading!**

"They did _what?_" Soul yelled.

"Easy Soul," Maka said, grabbing his arm as he lunged. The movement caused her to hiss quietly as the tug jostled her still healing ribs.

"Damn it, Maka, don't do that," he scolded. He moved back to sit on the edge of his chair, one hand fisting in his lap.

"Then don't yell at Kim. It's not her fault."

"What she said," Kim added from her spot at the end of Maka's hospital bed. "Don't shoot the messenger."

Soul glared, but said nothing else, returning his eyes to Maka as he adjusted one of the pillows propping her up. "Thanks," Maka said, taking his hand to squeeze it before turning back to Kim. "Sorry about that. Please continue."

"As I was saying, Jackie and I were sent on a mission shortly after Kid contacted the witches. We were assured that the thing we were searching for would be imperative to saving you guys, which is the only reason we went. We didn't have any way to contact you without coming back, but we were assured that you would be kept informed of everything you needed to know."

Kim's frown deepened as she met Soul's and then Maka's eyes again. "I'm really sorry. We would have contacted you guys if we could. We had no idea that you were being left to your own devices."

"So did they tell you why it was they lied to you and just left us to figure things out on our own?" Soul asked.

"A new witch joined the coven a few weeks ago, one whose power helps her see into the future. Well…" Kim paused, thinking over her words. "It's more complicated than that, but the point is, she sees visions. So far, she's only seen a few, but they've all come true. Apparently, she had one about Soul just before Kid contacted us."

"One that told you to leave us here to fend for ourselves?!" Angry, Soul stood again, quickly moving out of Maka's reach. "You guys knew I was in trouble. That Nygus, that _all_ the weapons, were in trouble, and you guys just _abandoned_ us?! What the hell was that about?!"

"Soul, stop it! Kim already said she didn't know anything!"

Kim yelled back, "They didn't abandon you! They took the necessary steps and then went dark!"

"What do you mean went dark?" Maka asked.

"It's a spy term. I think. Anyway, they set you up so that the disease wouldn't spread out of control and then just ignored Kid's summons."

"Why, though? Why not just- wait." Maka squinted at Kim. "What do you mean 'set you up?'"

Kim sighed. "I would tell you the whole story if you'd just stop asking so many questions. Just sit down and listen quietly for a minute, would you?" Soul frowned but sat down again. Maka also remained silent, moving her hand slightly to the side so it rested next to Soul's.

Kim sighed as she pulled over a stool and sat on it. "The witch who can kind of see the future is named Shawna. She saw how to save Soul and the other weapons, and also how to defeat the witch. When she told Maba that no one at the DMWA could know about her vision, she immediately sent Jackie and me off on some bullshit mission to gather some bullshit plant to keep us out of the way, because they knew we wouldn't just stand by and do nothing.

"Then, they sent someone to visit you while you were sleeping at the hotel after you fought Orsch. They were the reason you had a flat tire and your spare was missing. By stranding you, you were able to figure out there was a problem before you could return and spread it to everyone in the school.

"From what I heard, the curse Orsch put together was solid. None of the witches could undo it, not even Maba herself. In order to save Soul and Nygus, the only thing they could do was let Soul do what he seems to do best- try to save you, Maka."

Maka nodded. "Orsch did mention that she figured if anyone was going to figure out how to break the curse it would be Soul."

Kim nodded. "Only an act of complete selflessness, of sacrificing himself for the person he cares for most in the world, could break the curse." When both Maka and Soul opened their mouths, Kim raised her hands in front of herself. "Those are Shawna's words, not mine. I have no interest in getting into a conversation about your relationship, I'm just telling you what I was told.

"Anyway, the reason they couldn't tell Kid was because Shawna said that if even _one_ person at the DWMA found out, people would interfere and it wouldn't work. If they didn't remain silent, the best case scenario would be that only Soul and Nygus would submit to the curse. At worst, _all _the weapons would."

Soul shook his head. "I don't understand how it would have affected the outcome. I would have defended Maka anyway, whether I was told it would save me or not."

Maka spoke up. "It wouldn't have been the same if you'd known. When you threw yourself in front of Orsch's attack- which, by the way, we still need to talk about, because you broke our deal- you didn't know that you would be okay. If that hadn't been the trigger to cure the curse, you absolutely would have died. You were basically giving up your life to save mine, and if you'd known that was what you had to do to get rid of the curse, it wouldn't have happened in the same context. Even if it is _you_ and you seem to do it a lot."

"If you say so, I guess." Soul leaned back in the chair, keeping his hand next to Maka's, much to Kim's amusement.

"So that's what happened. Shawna said any interference from our end would result in the curse remaining. That's the only reason they didn't contact Kid. I just wanted to make sure you guys understood that I wasn't a part of the plan. I'm sorry about all the stress," she said standing. "Orsch's soul has been taken care of and Maba assured me that they would keep an eye out to make sure no one tried to recreate the spell, so you guys should be okay now."

"Thanks for coming to tell us," Maka said.

"Not a problem." Kim put the stool back that she'd been sitting on. "Get better soon, Maka. Glad you're better, Soul." After a quick wave, she left Maka and Soul alone to mull over what she said.

"Well that's stupid," Soul grumbled. "I'm glad we at least know now what was going on at least."

"It would have been nice if we could have been informed in the beginning, but I understand why they didn't. It's still fresh enough that I'm upset about it, though."

"How do you think Kid took the news that they basically blew him off?"

"Not well, but since they were right and everything worked out, I think all of us should work on accepting their choice."

Soul only huffed as his hand flipped and slid under Maka's to thread their fingers together. Maka watched as he stared off to the side, maintaining his annoyed expression as he stared in the direction Kim had left. "Hey, Soul?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It won't happen again."

Maka blinked. "Huh?"

"I know you wanna scold me for risking my life again since it went against the deal we made, but in my defense, I was dying anyway. We're not likely to run into that kind of scenario again any time soon, so I'll be a good little weapon and keep my heroic acts to myself next time."

Maka giggled, wary of hurting her ribs by laughing too much. "That's not actually what I was going to bring up, but I'm glad you're being reasonable about it."

"In my defense, you gave up." Soul finally turned to meet her gaze and she ignored the bored look he wore to study his eyes. The red pools expressed all the worry, anger and pain he felt over what had happened. "I saw the exact moment you gave up. Even if it was because of the pain, I know you could have come up with something to save yourself. You always do, even if you sometimes need me to knock some sense into you to do it." Maka felt tears threaten to cloud her vision as he frowned. "I wasn't going to just stand by and let you die in front of me, agreement or not." She squeezed his hand and he returned the motion.

He blinked a few times and his eyes cleared as he slouched farther into his seat, hand still meshed with hers. "If you didn't wanna scold me again, what _did_ you wanna talk about?" Maka swallowed as she looked away.

What she wanted to talk about had been weighing on her mind ever since they'd been in the Book of Eibon. While they'd been in the book, she'd struggled to not be led by her emotions; to not be controlled by the different sins they encountered. She had failed, especially once they'd made it to the book of Sloth and encountered Giriko. Once again, she had allowed her fear of a stronger opponent, the fear of failure, the fear of letting down her partner, to make her freeze up. Soul had brought her back to her right mind, like he always did, but that wasn't what she had spent so much time thinking about lately.

It was what had happened in the book of Lust that had been the catalyst to cause her to relive so many memories, so many scenarios between her and Soul. Her reaction to the succubus and the way Soul had looked in the book had caused her to rethink everything she thought she'd known about what Soul.

"I know we usually don't talk about it, but I wanted to talk about the Book of Eibon."

To a casual observer, her words had no effect on the weapon at her side, but to Maka, his entire demeanor changed at her words. The hand holding hers froze, without adding or decreasing the pressure of the hold. His jaw clenched, causing the muscles there to bulge slightly. His body went from slouchy and relaxed, to tense and primed, waiting to bolt out of the chair at a moment's notice. His eyes, though, were what gave him away the most. Half lidded, as they always were when he was trying to look apathetic, they had practically started to glow as a multitude of emotions emerged and then slid back under those ruby colored depths.

"What about it?" he asked, his nonchalant act completely exposed to Maka's trained eye. His voice had grown even gruffer than usual, something she knew he acknowledged based on the way one of his eyes twitched after he spoke.

"I think you know. We've avoided it for a while, but…" The silent stretched for a moment, then a few, and soon Maka wasn't even sure how long they'd been silent. Soul continued to look at her, patiently waiting for her to find whatever words she was looking for. "I think we should talk about it."

"We got Kid back and Giriko is gone. I don't think there's anything else we need to talk about. Even if you stalled out there for a bit, we took care of business like we always do. No reason to worry about it, it's in the past."

Maka could feel her cheeks beginning to grow warm as her hand clenched slightly in his grip. "That wasn't what I was talking about either."

Soul sighed. "Do I need to go find some food or something while you figure out what it is you wanna say?"

"No!" Maka squeezed his hand again. "No, I just- it's kind of hard to- I'm not sure how to say what I want to say."

"With words, preferably. Today would be great."

Maka glared at her weapon, just enough anger spiking to cover up the hesitation she'd been fighting with. "I just wanted to ask about the Lust chapter. Are you really attracted to women with smaller… boobs?" The hesitation crept back up on Maka, causing her to whisper the last word.

Soul had heard her though, and it was obvious by the way his entire face and neck suddenly exploded with color, his eyes widening as he jerked his gaze away from her. He swallowed a couple times between opening and closing his mouth. "Not sure why it matters," he finally said.

Maka took a deep breath and remembered all the things she'd thought about before Kid had come to get her when Orsch showed up. All the little things she loved about Soul, all the things she loved about spending time with him and being around him. She could have lost him, and while that possibility hung over their heads every time they went out for a job, for some reason, the thought had struck her harder as she watched her weapon slowly succumbing to the curse.

She wasn't her Mama, and Soul wasn't her Papa. Maybe it wasn't the greatest idea for a weapon and meister to date, but she knew that no one would ever know her better than Soul, just like no one would ever know him better than her. From what she could tell, there were only two problems that she could see potentially coming up if they were to date.

If they didn't work out, they would probably have trouble working together. They had had that problem before, so she was confident they could figure it out given enough time. Even if they didn't, Soul was a Deathscythe. He would always be one of Kid's weapons, so it wasn't like he'd have to find a new meister, and she was pretty sure if she wanted to, she could find another weapon. Not that she thought that would actually be a problem.

The other possibility was already a problem, so dating would have virtually no effect on them. Weapon- meister pairs that became romantically involved could start to worry too much about their partners and become too invested in protecting the other during fights. Maka smiled, glancing down at Soul's chest, where his shirt covered two very obvious physical reminders of him throwing himself in the way to protect her. It was ridiculous to think there was the potential for them to become even _more_ self sacrificing for each other. She didn't think it was possible.

He raised an eyebrow at her as she smiled. After making sure there was nothing on his shirt, he looked up at her again. "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing." She looked up, emeralds getting ensnared in rubies as they studied each other for a while. Maka cleared her throat before she spoke again. "I was just wondering… if you wanted to go out to dinner on Friday? Stein said I should be able to leave by then, so I should be able to handle sitting in a booth."

He gave her a confused look, but nodded. "Sure. We'll probably have to walk, though. I don't think your ribs can handle a ride on my bike."

Maka swallowed. "I, um, I don't mean I just want to go out to dinner."

That made him frown. "Maka, I'll do dinner, but we can't do too much until you're healed."

"That's not what I- ugh." She took a deep breath. "Soul, I want to know if you'll go to dinner with me. As, like, a date…"

Soul's eyes widened as his lungs momentarily forget how to work. Maka was asking him to go to dinner… she was _asking him out on a date_. Wasn't that supposed to be the guy's job? Shit, should he have asked her out before? He'd practically been on death's door, lamenting the time he was going to miss out on with Maka, when he could have fucking tried to cobble something together into the semblance of a date. Even just _one_ date. Instead, he'd sat and pouted for however many days, waiting to waste away. What the hell was wrong with him? He should have manned up and talked to Maka about how he felt, instead of sweeping it under the rug in a act of denial. And now she was beating him to the punch.

Before he answered, he couldn't help but bring up the insecurity he felt over what he'd seen in the book. "Are you sure you wanna do that? I don't quite fit that buttoned down, nerd persona you were sporting in the book."

Maka's blush was pretty adorable, in his humble opinion, as she looked down to avoid his gaze. "I know, but I'm pretty sure if we went in again, I'd look a lot different."

"Why do you say that?" Soul itched his chest through his shirt, unable to make the weird discomfort he was feeling go away.

"I don't really know how to explain it," she said, still refusing to meet his gaze. "I guess because I feel like my eyes have finally been opened to see what's been standing- and throwing himself- right in front of me." She finally looked up at him and knew that he was remembering the same things she was.

Soul throwing himself between her and Crona.

Soul throwing himself between her and Giriko.

Soul throwing himself between her and Orsch.

He smiled, happiness bubbling up inside himself as he gave her one of his real smiles. One that spread across his whole face and lit up his eyes. "Sure, Maka. We can go out to dinner on Friday." The smile she gave him in response lit up her entire face, making his heart beat a little harder as his entire chest filled with warmth. He chuckled as he spoke again. "I guess the old saying is true."

Her smile faltered as she cocked her head to the side. "What saying?"

"The third time's the charm."

* * *

**And it's done! It didn't quite go where I was heading, but I'm a firm believer in letting the characters drag me along to where they want to go, no matter what my plans are. It makes for much more interesting stories. Thanks to those who have read this. Like I said before, I know the hype over Soul Eater is long over, but it has a special place in my heart since it's the first manga I ever read and bought. I couldn't help but give them a little love.**

**If you're interested in Fairy Tail, I'm currently working on an on-going AU starring Natsu and Lucy that has been a lot of fun to write so far, and I have another, shorter idea that's been taking up a lot of space in my mind lately that I may start writing up and sharing soon, if only so the damn thing will let me go back to sleeping in peace!**

**Thanks again for the love guys, and as always, happy reading!**


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